EIRCOM LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

1st October

Bray Wanderers 2

KIERAN O BRIEN 10

STEPHEN FOX 69

Dundalk 3

DAVID WARD 49

JOHN FLANAGAN 51

BRIAN MORRIS-ROE 82

On this weekend last year Dundalk travelled to the Carlisle Grounds. Dundalk were sitting bottom of the table at this stage and the 0-0 draw that night showed that both sides were going to struggle in the months ahead. Dundalk fans were left with little encouragement leaving that night. Twelve months on with both teams having been relegated Dundalk fans left the Carlisle Grounds jubilant after a sensational win against the supposed runaway League leaders.

Dundalk kept faith with the same eleven that started against Athlone last week. On the bench was former Drogheda winger Michael Gahan who was signed earlier in the week.

The first half was filled with goalmouth incident. In truth it was the Dundalk defence who had the most to do. After 10 minutes Dundalk found themselves one down. A superb tackle by Padraig Gollogley on Kieran O Brien when the record seeking striker was through on goal saw Bray win a corner. Dundalk went to sleep and when Pat O Brien swung the corner in there was no-one marking Barry O Connor who headed the ball past the helpless John Connolly in the Dundalk goal. Bray had several chances to make it two soon after when the nervous looking Dundalk defence again lost their men on corners. It was looking like Dundalk were in a tough night but after 20 minutes Dundalk had a brief spell which yielded two great chances. The first came when David Ward was pulled down on the edge of the Bray box. David Crawley drilled a low shot around the wall from the resultant free kick and forced Bray keeper John Walsh into a brilliant save. Soon after Dundalk had their clearest chance when from a throw the ball broke to Tom McNulty who found himself in space and slotted the ball to Brian Morris-Roe who had a clear shot on goal from 12 yards but sliced it wide. A glorious chance squandered by Dundalk. At that point with Bray's defensive record this season you would have to think that not many more chances would come Dundalk's way. All thoughts of Dundalk attacking would have to be put aside for the first half at least as Bray launched a barrage of attacks on the Dundalk goal. John Connolly was not having a composed game between the sticks and when he came too far for a cross Kieran O Brien headed towards the empty net but Whyte got back to clear. O Brien was put through again and when he dinked it over the advancing Connolly ; Whyte again got back to clear off the line. David Crawley also made a headed clearance off the line from a header from a Bray attacker. It was all Bray. Even their twenty five yard long range efforts were only going inches wide. It looked bleak for Dundalk and when the half time whistle went it was like music to their ears. It would give Dundalk a chance to recharge the batteries. Bray must have gone in at half time wondering why they weren't two or three in front.

What followed in the first ten minutes of the second half surprised even some of Dundalk's most ardent followers. Straight from the start Dundalk pushed forward and tried to prove the old adage that attack is the best form of defence. On 49 minutes Dundalk were level. A hopeful ball forward was well contolled by Brian Honan who put David Ward clear with a beautifully timed pass. Ward advanced into the Bray area and sidefooted it past John Walsh in the Bray goals. Two minutes later Dundalk were in front. David Crawley sent in a dangerous left wing cross which caught the Bray defence cold and with two Dundalk players there one of them scored on the rebound after their first shot was blocked. The goal was later to credited to John Flanagan but there were people who believed that Brian Morris-Roe, Brian Honan, David Hoey or John Flanagan could have scored the goal. Honan was definitely the second Dundalk player that was in the box but it appears that Flanagan was the goalscorer. At the time no-one really cared because Dundalk were 2-1 up against the League leaders.

For the next 18 minutes Dundalk stood firm, Connolly still did not look assured in goals and because of that there was confusion at times in the Dundalk goalmouth. John Whyte made an outstanding block just after Dundalk's second goal. He threw himself in front of the ball when the Bray right winger had only the keeper to beat. Dundalk were creating more chances on the break. Morris-Roe and Flanagan tried a couple of speculative long shots. In midfield Dundalk were on top with McNulty and Flanagan doing excellently. Morris-Roe after a quiet first half was brilliant in the second and David Hoey made some dangerous runs down the right wing. Kieran O Brien who was looking to set a record for scoring in the most consecutive games was finding it harder to have shots on goal in the second half with Gollogley and Melvin doing well. However Keystone Cops defending as Dermot Keely would call it was to give Bray their equaliser on 69 minutes which would silence, albeit briefly, the voiciferous Dundalk support. A corner on the right was headed back across the goal ; Dundalk had several chances to clear but let the ball get away from them to the edge of the box where substitute Stephen Fox hit a low drive past John Connolly and into the bottom corner. There were fears amongst those present that this could lead to Bray going on and winning the match and at that stage an awful lot of Dundalk fans would have taken the point but with David Ward playing like a man inspired up front Dundalk would have chances to take the match.

That chance was to come on 82 minutes when a great ball by Brian Honan over the head of last Bray defender left Brian Morris-Roe clear on goal 25 yards out. The player hadn't much time to think but with the keeper advancing he lobbed it high into the air and over Walsh and when it seemed like it was going to go over it dropped down just under the crossbar to give Dundalk a 3-2 lead. Dundalk sat back expecting a Bray onslaught in the last ten minutes but despite Bray having introduced three attacking substitutes and dual FAI Cup Final scorer Jason Byrne it was Dundalk who had most of the possession in the last eight minutes and Dundalk won plenty of throws and free kicks to waste plenty of time. When the ball did approach the Dundalk area it was sent back by Gollogley or Melvin.

After a couple of minutes of injury time Athlone referee Paul Murphy blew the final whistle which saw Dundalk, after a start which had all the cynics writing them off for the season , move up to third place and only five points behind Bray who were stunned at the concession of three goals which all came from just one good pass.

For Dundalk there were numerous stars on the day. The whole back four redeemed themselves in the second half after an uneasy opening period. The same could be said of Flanagan, McNulty and Morris-Roe with Ward and Honan again doing well up front. Ward is probably now playing better than he ever has which looked unlikely at the start of the season. The games can't come quick enough now and it is Home Farm who have to face a rejuvenated Dundalk sometime this week, most likely next Sunday. Oh how different it is from twelve months ago.

DUNDALK FC

1 John Connolly 6

2 John Whyte 8

3 David Crawley 7

4 David Hoey 7

5 Padraig Gollogley 8

6 Noel Melvin 8

7 Tom McNulty 8

8 John Flanagan 8

9 David Ward 8

10 Brian Honan 8

11 Brian Morris-Roe 8

SUBS [not used]

12 Derek Delaney

13 David Martin

14 Michael Harte

15 Ollie Ralph

17 Michael Gahan