Bohemians 3 Bray Wanderers 0: After more than a century in the place, it's hardly surprising the membership at Bohemians required some persuasion before voting to sell their home last week but in recent years there has been a significant crowd at Dalymount keen on a steady turnover in the manager's job.
Sure enough, a disappointing start to the season has prompted suggestions from disgruntled fans that the first instalment of the property developers' cash should be used to finance Gareth Farrelly's pay-off. Two weeks ago the calls for his departure were ringing out from one end of the main stand during the UCD game. On that occasion two quick goals silenced the critics but the Dubliner must have anticipated a renewed assault if things didn't go well against Bray last night.
As it turned out, he needn't have worried for Bray performed precisely like a team that has haemorrhaged goals at one end while finding them distinctly hard to come by at the other.
Bohemians, it would be hard for their player-manager to deny, are some way short of looking like challengers to the league's top teams but on this evidence at least they are still a class above the top flight's weaker outfits.
Given the balance of the game the scoreline was in no way hard on the visitors but Wanderers might still have somehow emerged with a little more to show for their efforts if it hadn't been for the three hapless pieces of defending that led to goals from Vinny Arkins and Aidan O'Keefe (two).
Having conceded 16 times in eight previous league outings it was to be expected that Bray might struggle at the back but even the statistics could not prepare the uninitiated for the rather comical generosity that handed O'Keefe his second-half brace.
Bray right-back Michael Roche provided the first on a plate after 70 minutes with a poorly thought-out back pass that left his goalkeeper stranded while there were several culprits eight minutes later when O'Keefe was allowed to steal back possession on the edge of the area from where he slipped past Chris O'Connor before sidefooting home.
The visitors had been repeatedly opened up by their hosts from the outset and Bohemians might well have been a couple of goals up within a matter of minutes had it not been for a succession of misunderstandings amongst the home side's players.
Farrelly chose to start with Arkins as a lone striker but Fergal Harkin and O'Keefe (who moved up front for the second half) were able to provide plenty of support from wide positions while Bray managed to provide very little impediment to the player-manager himself and fellow midfielder John Paul Kelly working their way into the box at regular intervals too.
Somehow, though, the final ball was never quite good enough through the opening half hour and so, despite at least four Bohemians players looking set to score at one point or another, O'Connor didn't actually have to make a save during that time.
When finally called upon to keep the ball out of the net he couldn't although he might point, with a good deal of justification, at the way in which Arkins was left entirely unchallenged to meet a Harkin cross eight yards out.
The striker made the most of the chance and despite a desperate dive low to his left, O'Connor had no real chance of making the save.
Moments later Kelly came within a whisker of picking out O'Keefe for a second and Bray looked like they might be in for another rough night.
In what remained of the half, though, they steadied themselves and after Farrelly limped off Paul Caffrey thumped the ball off the outside of the upright from a free 20 yards out. It was to prove their best moment of a rather miserable night.
BOHEMIANS: O'Brien; Rice, Ferguson, Collins, Byrne; Harkin, Kelly, Hunt, Farrelly (O'Brien, 38 mins), O'Keefe (Duggan, 86 mins); Arkins.
BRAY WANDERERS: O'Connor; Roche (Gifford, 83 mins), Tresson, McGovern, Ryan; Doyle, James, Keogh (Georgescu, 67 mins), Caffrey; Fox; Zayed.
Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).
