Dundalk 2 - 3 Bray Wanderers

• Emmet Maloney
• Mon, Apr 26 2010


Bray recorded their first victory of the season at Oriel Park as they twice came from behind to snatch a late winner through Robbie Doyle in added time at the end of the match.

An atypical Dundalk first half saw four goals as Liam Burns opened the scoring, Jake Kelly equalised, Dundalk hit the front again through Johnny Breen, only to pegged back again by Kelly. The home crowd waited for the usual second half surge but it looked as if Bray were going to gain a very creditable draw until Doyle snuck in to settle matters in the 91st minute.

Dundalk have made a habit of starting in a fairly tight manner and thus goals have been hard to come by, well not tonight.

Dundalk opened the scoring on three minutes when a Ross Gaynor free kick from the wide right on the shed side was drilled in low to the near post where Liam Burns calmly side footed his finish to the roof of the net.

Bray equalised for the first time on 36 minutes when Jake and Shaun Kelly competed for a high bouncing ball in the Dundalk box. The Dundalk right back jumped, the Bray striker didn’t and went down under the challenge. He got up to send Peter Cherrie the wrong way from the spot and place the ball into the keeper’s right hand corner.

The Lilywhites hit the front again on 41 minutes. Gaynor had a battle for possession with Dean Zambra all the way down the Dundalk left, he got room to cross inside the box to the near post where Johnny Breen showed a deft touch for a big lad by rolling the ball across Kane in the Bray net into the far corner from six yards.

Bray hit back again in added time at the end of the half as a hopeful ball into the box was taken down by Kelly, he turned and worked room for himself onto his left and thrashed past Cherrie from 12 yards.

The second half never developed as a contest as a plethora of free kicks, bookings and a fair bit of time wasting from Bray saw the game drift by. What chances were being created were falling to the visitors and Kelly saw a great chance for his hat trick palmed wide from just eight yards. It looked to be headed for a draw as Dundalk struggled for inspiration and Bray looked happy enough with the point but Doyle had the last word.

A Dundalk attack broke down on the edge of the box as Tom Miller lost the ball in a challenge. Colm Tresson ferried it forward to Kelly on the Bray left who brought play to the edge of the Dundalk box, before rolling the ball across to Doyle. He brought it in field onto his left foot and rolled the ball from the edge of the box past the left hand of the diving Cherrie.

Dundalk looked fairly flat all night and missed the injured JJ Melligan but take nothing away from Bray. It would have been very easy for their heads to drop after going behind twice and their fans will say that this result is long overdue. Next up for Dundalk is the Louth derby away to Drogheda and Bray face Galway at home in a fixture they will now fancy getting something from.

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Shaun Kelly, Wayne Hatswell, Gary Breen, Liam Burns Ciaran McGuigan 62); Stephen Maher, Tom Miller, Neale Fenn; Fahrudin Kudozovic, Johnny Breen (Tiarnan Mulvenna 62), Ross Gaynor.
Subs not used: Matt Gregg, Michael Synott, Nathan Murphy

Bray Wanderers: Brian Kane; Daire Doyle (Colm Tresson 45), Dane Massey, Shane O’Connor, David webster; Dean Zambra (David O’Neill 90+2), James Kavanagh, Chris Shields, David Tyrell; John Mulroy (Jake Kelly 26), Robbie Doyle.
Subs not used: Carl Donnelly, Pablo Rodriguez

Extratime Man of the Match: Jake Kelly.

Referee: Tom Connolly (Dublin)

Official Attendance: 1716 .