Bray Wanderers 2-1 Dundalk: Seagulls stun faltering champions

By Daire Walsh at the Carlisle Grounds

Stephen Kenny’s side sustained their second consecutive SSE Airtricity Premier Division defeat when they were bested by Harry Kenny’s resurgent Bray Wanderers

Bray Wanderers extended their unbeaten SSE Airtricity Premier Division run to seven games by meting out a shock defeat to champions Dundalk.

Daryl Horgan opened the scoring for the Lilywhites, who were pegged back just before half-time by Mark Salmon. A stunning Karl Moore free-kick secured the three points for the Seagulls, before Horgan was dismissed in injury-time to rub salt into Lilywhite wounds.

The visitors broke the deadlock in the 12th minute, when Horgan fired home in clinical style, after Seagulls netminder Peter Cherrie denied former UCD midfielder Robbie Benson’s initial strike.

This was Horgan’s seventh league goal of 2016, and he was desperately unfortunate to see a subsequent effort crash off the bottom right-hand post.

Dundalk were the dominant team throughout the early stages, but after Bray full-back Hugh Douglas headed a free-kick towards the target six minutes before the interval, Salmon found the net from a tight left-hand angle – in spite of the best efforts of the retreating Chris Shields.

Dundalk introduced Ciaran Kilduff and Darren Meenan from the bench during the third-quarter of play, as they attempted to swing the pendulum in their favour.

However, after Dane Massey was booked for a foul on Dylan Connolly 10 minutes from time, Moore brilliantly curled a 25-yard free-kick beyond the reach of Dundalk’s Gary Rogers.

Dundalk did pile on the pressure in the closing moments, but when Horgan was issued with a straight red-card deep into second-half stoppage-time, Dundalk were resigned to their fourth reversal of the current campaign.

Following their impending Champions League play-off double-header against Legia Warsaw, Dundalk will resume their title charge against Wexford Youths on August 26. The champions remain six points clear of second-placed Cork City, with two additional games played.

Bray, meanwhile, move five points clear of 11th-place Wexford Youths with this victory, and will aim to create further daylight between themselves and the relegation zone when they entertain Galway United on Friday week.