Premier

Carlisle Grounds
17 Aug 2018

Parachuted into the starting XI after an injury to Evan Moran during the warmup, Under-17 keeper Enda Minogue got a morale-boosting start when he turned a wicked Pat Hoban shot round the post after just five minutes.

But his goal remained unbreached for only a quarter of an hour after that, and it was indeed the Dundalk striker who opened the scoring with a lobbed ball that deceived the youngster.

A Jamie McGrath header from Robbie Benson's flag-kick doubled their advantage just inside the half hour, but Bray somehow kept them at bay from then to the break.

A rare error by former Seagull Chris Shields gifted Jake Kelly the ball with only another former Bray man, Gary Rogers, to beat, which he duly did.

But that was as good as it got for the home side, as yet another past pupil, substitute Dylan Connolly, popped up to receive a cross from the offside Hoban and head past the Bray keeper.

Frustration in the final quarter hour led to some fractious fouls and a sloppy end to the game.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 50 Enda Minogue; 31 Seán Harding, 5 Seán Heaney , 4 Conor Kenna (c) , 3 Kevin Lynch ; 6 Paul O'Conor, 14 Rhys Gorman; 27 Dragos Mamaliga, 11 Jake Kelly , 26 Byron O'Gorman; 9 Gerald Pender
Subs: 22 Darragh Noone (for Mamaliga 73), 24 Jake Ellis (for O'Gorman 81), 25 Cian Walsh (for Harding H/T), 28 Alex Rafferty, 30 Jamie Crilly, 32 Cian Maher, 40 Jack Kelly (gk)
Dundalk: 1 Gary Rogers; 2 Seán Gannon, 3 Brian Gartland (c), 21 Daniel Cleary, 14 Dane Massey; 5 Chris Shields, 18 Robbie Benson; 10 Jamie McGrath , 7 Michael Duffy, 11 Patrick McEleney; 9 Patrick Hoban
Subs: 4 Sean Hoare, 8 John Mountney, 15 Stephen Folan, 16 Dylan Connolly (for McGrath H/T) , 19 Ronan Murray (for McEleney 61), 22 Gabriel Sava (gk), 45 George Kelly (for Hoban 86)
Referee: Damien McGraith