Premier
Hunky Dorys Park
30 July 2010

Jake Kelly finishes off Bray's second goal
pic Michael Tierney

Bray struggled at times to hold on to a lead they had only earned after a first period of much effort on both sides for little reward.

It was a game of significance for both sides, Drogheda seeking an ever softer cushion for their second-from-bottom status, while Bray had to win to have any remote chance of Premier survival.

Goalkeeper Matt Gregg, newly returned to the Seagulls, was on the alert early, blocking a second minute strike by former colleague John Flood, who had rounded the defence in pursuit of a long ball forward.

A minute later, Joe Kendrick put a 35m free over the Bray bar, and Peter McMahon had two half-chances in swift succession, firing wide with the first and straight to the keeper's arms with the second.

The early Drogheda dominance faded slowly, a Jake Kelly 25m free going wide before the Seagulls lost Graham Kelly to injury, while Ryan Brennan failed to convert two chances at the far end.

The visitors ought to have been ahead by the half-hour, when Sean Houston worked his way up the left to cross for Shane O'Neill, but the latter's downward header bounced too high and over Robert Duggan's bar.

McMahon and Kendrick both had chances shortly after that, before Bray seemed to be denied a penalty when Shields was brought down, referee Neil Doyle unconvinced and assistant Marc Douglas's flag stubbornly down.

The half petered out with neither side managing to complete their attacks, O'Neill coming closest with a burst through the middle before the whistle went for a free out.

The second period started much as the first had ended, with Flood for Drogheda and Kelly for Bray both off-target. Then a brace of corners for the home side failed to produce a score, Flood heading over with the first, and Kendrick's second played short to Brennan but recovered by Bray in short order.

But Bray then produced a fina passage of play, Kelly centering the ball for Mulroy, who played back and forth with Danny O'Connor before bustling through the defence to fire past Duggan.

A minute later, O'Neill, having been put through by a long ball from defence, narrowly failed to double the visitors' advantage with an effort from a narrow angle that hit the side-netting.

Just after the hour mark, a rocket from distance by early substitute Shields was just off target, as was O'Neill's effort at the mid-point of the half.

Then Mulroy began the play that led to the second goal of the evening, Daire Doyle joining him in the right-hand corner before the cross that found Kelly, who volleyed home from 12m.

Kendrick was having little fortune with his set-pieces, another pair of corners going a-begging when Gregg took the first and Eric McGill headed the second well wide.

But Flood came a lot closer with a shot that Gregg could only push around the post, McMahon this time taking the flag-kick and putting it out across the face of the goal.

Both keepers were in action in the final stages, Duggan intervening to prevent Mulroy's cross reaching O'Neill and Gregg claiming a similar effort by Brennan.

But when Mulroy forced a corner, Houston could only head Kelly's kick over.

At that point, Corie Treacy's desperate two-footed lunge on Shields earned him an early shower and in the final minutes of normal time, the home defence frustrated a triple attack by Bray, and McGill shot over before committing what seemed a fairly innocuous foul that earned him a second caution, and Drogheda a sour end to a disappointing evening.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 1 Matt Gregg; 2 Shane O'Connor, 4 Adam Mitchell, 5 Derek Prendergast, 3 Sean Houston; 7 Daire Doyle (c), 8 Graham Kelly, 6 Danny O'Connor, 11 Jake Kelly; 9 Shane O'Neill, 10 John Mulroy
Subs: 12 Chris Shields (for G Kelly 9), 14 Dane Massey, 15 Dave Webster (for Mitchell 61), 16 Dean Zambra, 25 Brian Kane (gk)
Drogheda United: 23 Robert Duggan; 2 Corie Treacy, 5 Alan McNally (c), 16 Michael Daly, 3 Joe Kendrick; 19 Ryan Brennan, 6 Eric McGill, 10 Paul Crowley, 17 Peter McMahon; 18 Glen Fitzpatrick, 11 John Flood
Subs: 1 Paul Skinner (gk), 9 Darren Meenan (for Crowley 84), 12 Eoghan Osborne (for Kendrick 78), 14 Ronan McEntaggart (for Fitzpatrick 69), 20 Colm Smyth
Referee: Neil Doyle