Bohemians 2-1 Bray Wanderers
AN OWN-GOAL from Jason Byrne and a late red card for Eoin Wearen failed to stop Bohemians from collecting all three points, thanks to goals from the aforementioned Byrne and an in-form Dinny Corcoran, who netted his fifth in his last four games.
Bray headed into this relegation six-pointer in tenth position right behind their hosts. The result leaves them languishing still in 10th place, trailing Bohemians by nine points and having played two games more.
Corcoran and Kevin Devaney caused the Bray defenders big problems right from the start. With just under eight minutes on the clock, Devaney put an excellent chance wide after one of his trademark runs cutting in off the touchline.
He followed that up with a slide-rule pass to Corcoran a minute later and the striker would have scored if it wasn’t for the quick-thinking of goalkeeper Stephen McGuinness, who ran out and smother it.
Then, Bohemians launched a swift counter-attack in the 10th minute after Adam Hanlon lost the ball as he tried to beat the host’s defence. Roberto Lopes hit a long ball out and it bounced kindly for Corcoran before he nodded it over McGuinness who got a touch as it dropped into the goal.
The match turned scrappy as the first-half wore on but Owen Heary’s men maintained their lead and doubled it just 10 seconds after the referee blew for the restart.
The ball was fired out to Devaney on the right flank from the tip-off. The winger got to the bye-line before sending it across to Corcoran who looked to have scored but Jason Byrne made sure of it as he bundled it home from very close range.
Jake Kelly was excellent in the second half and after Dean Delany pushed his corner onto the post the Bray winger fired it back across goal where an unlucky rebound in the goalmouth came off Byrne’s knee and into the net after 66 minutes.
The win was spoiled for Bohs manager Owen Heary after midfielder Wearen was sent off in the third minute of injury time for kicking out at Bray skipper David Webster. Referee Kevin O’Regan dished out a straight red.
Bohemians: Delany, Pender, Price, Mulcahy (c), Memery, Moore (Buckley 89), Lopes, Wearen, Devaney (Walsh 86), J. Byrne (Kavanagh 71), Corcoran. Substitutes: McEvoy, Hyland, Evans, Buckley, Shanahan.
Bray Wanderers: McGuinness, Gorman, Cooney, Moloney (Brown 55), Webster, G. Kelly, McDonagh, Zambra, J. Kelly, Noble (Swan 64), Hanlon. Substitutes: McGill, Hughes, O’Neill, Rossiter, Sheridan.