Bray Wanderers 1, Bohemians 3

By Emmet Malone
It was against Bray in April that Bohemians last scored three or won a league game and Owen Heary might have been grateful that he had something positive to draw on for his first pre-match pep talk last night as his side came out on top again, with a goal from Ryan McEvoy and two from Dinny Corcoran earning them the win they had been desperately hoping for.

Wanderers, whose form since that last meeting between the two sides would have marked them out as favourites here, had few complaints at the end. Jason Byrne’s penalty after the hosts had been reduced to 10 men provided some hope for a spell, but they folded in the closing minutes.

Heary had to watch the game from the television gantry due to a suspension picked up as a result of being sent off last week but the caretaker boss made his presence felt beforehand with five changes to the starting line-up as well as two positional switches involving Dave Mulcahy and Derek Pender.

Down the left Karl Moore looked particularly lively and caused Eoin Hyland a succession of problems. Inside, Corcoran, Chris Lyon and, from midfield, McEvoy sought to get onto the end of one of his crosses, but Wanderers did enough to keep them quiet in the early exchanges.

After just 10 minutes, though, the visitors were in front, with McEvoy converting from the spot after Shane O’Connor had taken down Lyons. They should have doubled the lead from the time that the largely impressive Darren Quigley fluffed a simple punch only for Corcoran to connect poorly with an improvised shot that O’Connor stopped short of the line.

When Adam Mitchell picked up his second booking of the night for a foul on Moore after an hour, it seemed that the visitors would have the opportunity to complete the victory at their leisure, but Bohemians have rarely made life easy for themselves this season and Bray got a little help with making it harder here when referee Tom Connolly pointed to the spot after Dave Mulcahy had leaned, rather gently it seemed, on Byrne.

The striker picked himself up and calmly beat Dean Delany with his penalty. However, Heary’s young side then showed considerable character to make sure of the points. Corcoran restored the lead with a half volley from 10 yards before wrapping things up nicely with a well-judged touch and finish after Quigley had made an initial stop from Kevin Devaney.