Bray Wanderers 1 Dundalk 1
League leaders since they beat Cork City at the start of May, Dundalk will have to repeat the trick when the two sides meet again at Oriel Park next Friday if they are to regain the title after they were held here thanks to a determined Bray display in wild and wet conditions at Carlisle Grounds.
Had things gone their way the visitors could have clinched the title, and their fans had clearly come hoping for a party. Instead, it was the Bray players who were celebrating at the final whistle, as their fans chanted about staying up and the best part of the crowd made quietly for the gates knowing that Cork will have a one point advantage to defend when they come to town next week.
Playing catch-up
Dundalk spent the first half playing catch-up after conceding just 38 seconds in. Straight from the kick-off, Bray had pushed down the right and fed the ball to Dean Zambra who turned and struck a low shot that Peter Cherrie did well to stop, though not well enough to prevent it running to David Cassidy who poked home the loose ball from a tight angle.
It was another setback for travelling fans, many of whom had been delayed getting to the ground where many huddled, largely without cover with their backs to the wind and rain.
Stephen Kenny’s players were in a somewhat similar position, but it took them quite some time to get to grips with the scale of what was notionally supposed to be an advantage.
Both teams did their best to play some football but the conditions were abysmal and Dundalk’s normal passing game only made the odd fleeting appearance as the wind whipped the ball away one minute and the increasingly heavily ground slowed it dramatically the next.
Wanderers made the most of things, though, getting forward far enough on a handful of occasions to earn free kicks that might have posed Peter Cherrie problems and, on one occasion, a shot from Dave Scully, that the keeper did very well to push over.
Urgency
Dundalk’s sense of urgency was clear but Wanderers, who needed a point to stay up – always assuming that their financial troubles don’t do for them anyway – wouldn’t give up, and after Chris Shields had had to block down a Scully shot in the early stages of the second half, Jake Kelly saw his header clip the top of the crossbar after it had beaten Cherrie.
Knowing that Cork were ahead, the away supporters were beginning to show signs of frustration but the players stuck at it with the team’s wide men, Darren Meenan and particularly Daryl Horgan, working tirelessly to create something.
They got one when Shields fed Meenan and his cross was turned powerfully in off the underside of the crossbar by Pat Hoban, who became the club's first player ever to score 20 top flight league games in the process.
But after that Stephen McGuinness, having made a couple of great first-half saves, wasn’t even tested over the 26 minutes that remained.
Slip-up
The slip-up puts the pressure on Dundalk now, who have beaten City home and away this season but who must make it three out of three against a side that need only take a point in order to bag the title.
It will be a tense night too for manager Stephen Kenny who will remember his experience as Derry City boss in 2005 when his side went to Turner’s Cross as leaders but lost to the hosts who nicked the title.
