Bray Wanderers threw away a two goal lead to draw 2-2 with Shamrock Rovers at the Carlisle Ground on Friday.
A first-half brace from Kieran Marty Waters was cancelled out by goals from Ronan Finn and Gary Twigg after the break.
Rovers dominated possession for long periods in the second period, but struggled to create many goal scoring chances.
The Dublin side now lie three points behind Sligo at the summit of the Premier Division.
The game was played at breakneck speed throughout and the first chance of the game fell to the impressive Dane Massey who could only find the side netting from a powerful drive. Conor Powell and John Mulroy traded efforts at either end before the deadline was broken after 16 minutes.
Bray broke out of defence with menace. Dane Massey played a simple ball to winger Kieran Marty Waters who took a touch before smashing past Oscar Jansson – the Rovers’ defence badly exposed.
Bray doubled their advantage on 37 minutes. Waters again with the finish after a Jason Byrne pass. In injury time, the Hoops were awarded a penalty when Twigg went over in the box. He rifled home but Paul McLaughlin made him retake as the referee was already making his way over to the side line to send the Bray assistant coach to the stands for his protestations at the penalty.
Darren Quigley parried the retaken spot kick. Dennehy followed up and smashed home but McLaughlin whistled for a free out – Dennehy was alleged to have encroached the box as Twigg shot. A chorus of boos rang out for the man in the middle as the sides trooped in at the break.
The fraught atmosphere that ended the first half resumed in the second – a plastic bottle thrown from the crowd narrowly avoided Paul McLoughlin just after the restart.
Rovers dominated possession for the remainder of the game but struggled to create goal scoring chances for long periods. However they pulled one back on 67 minutes when Ronan Finn controlled substitute Darly Kavanagh’s flick on and fired home.
Ultimately Kavanagh proved an inspired replacement and teed up Gary Twigg for the equaliser with just eight minutes to play. Rovers had been dominating but Bray had looked assured in defence up until the strike. McCabe went close late on but a draw the fairest result on the night.
Bray Wanderers: Darren Quigley, David Webster, Dane Massey, Danny O’Connor, Kieran Marty Waters, Kevin Knight (Adam Mitchell, 84), Dean Zambra, John Mulroy, Adam Hanlon, Pierce Sweeney, Jason Byrne (Daire Doyle, 88)
Shamrock Rovers: Oscar Jansson, Conor McCormack, Craig Sives, Ken Oman, Conor Powell (Aaron Greene, 79) ,Gary McCabe, Ronan Finn, Chris Turner, Billy Dennehy, Gary O’Neill (Daryl Kavanagh, 64), Gary Twigg
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
