Bray Wanderers produced a vibrant attacking performance when accounting for UCD 5-4 in this absorbing Airtricity League Premier Division encounter at Belfield.
Despite trailing to Cillian Morrison's fifth-minute header, the visitors dominated and levelled matters through Ismahil Akinade before Jason Byrne plundered two quick-fire goals to ensure a 3-1 interval lead for Bray.
Byrne completed his hat-trick on the hour and despite David McMillan responding from the spot and David O’Connor’s 77th minute header, Wanderers held on for a merited victory with Byrne grabbing his fourth seven minutes from time, negating Robbie Creevy’s injury time strike.
The hosts, who had suffered twice at the hands of St Patrick’s Athletic in the past fortnight, made a sloppy opening, with Ismahil Akinade shooting narrowly wide when given too much room following an incisive pass from John Mulroy in the third minute.
However, it was the visitors’ defensive inadequacies that led to the game’s opening goal in the fifth minute as Morrison was afforded too much room inside the area as he powerfully headed home Tom O’Halloran’s inswinging free-kick from six yards.
Despite that concession, it was Bray who played the more fluid football and Kieran 'Marty' Waters forced Mark McGinley into a routine stop in the 10th minute as he cut inside O’Connor with relative ease.
The visitors’ endeavours were rewarded four minutes later as Akinade received possession twenty-five yards from goal and he produced a glorious rising shot that rendered McGinley’s despairing dive redundant as it found the corner of the net.
The momentum continued in Bray’s favour with alarming holes appearing in UCD’s three-man defence and Akinade could well have doubled his tally midway through the half when released by Mulroy, but McGinley saved well with his legs.
In the 25th minute, McGinley was again called into action as Waters found space inside the area but his subsequent low shot rebounded off the keeper’s legs and away to safety.
Although the hosts looked lively on the counter-attack with Robbie Creevy firing over from one such move, it was the visitors who continued to look more threatening with David Webster seeing his 30th-minute header drift narrowly wide.
After Byrne had shown uncharacteristic sloppiness when shooting wildly in the 38th minute following Mulroy’s pass, he made amends in the best possible sense three minutes before the break.
McGinley, who had worked wonders in maintaining parity for his side, was culpable as he failed to gather a Waters cross from the right-wing and Byrne was on hand to stab home from 16 yards, reflecting his side’s dominance on the scoreboard.
The flow continued towards the home goal and Gary Dempsey was desperately unlucky to see his sublime thirty-yard shot cannon off McGinley’s crossbar as the game entered injury time.
Far from bemoaning their misfortune, Bray ensured a deserved two-goal margin entering the break as Byrne highlighted his predatory instincts when prodding home from two yards after Waters had struck McGinley’s upright.
The second-half resumed in a similar vein with the visitors playing with great confidence and the tireless Mulroy almost gained tangible reward for his efforts in the 49th minute but McGinley was out sharply to block his goalbound effort.
Given their dominance, there was scant surprise when Bray extended their lead on the hour mark with Byrne producing a typically unfussy finish from 16 yards after Mulroy had, once again, split the home defence.
The students were handed a lifeline, however, when five minutes later, referee Sean Grant adjudged Webster to have impeded substitute Dean Clarke and David McMillan hammered the resultant spot-kick down the middle to breathe flesh life into their flagging challenge.
McMillan became increasingly influential as the half progressed and he forced Darren Quigley into a finger-tip save and in the 77th minute, the Students halved their deficit as O’Connor nodded home after a cushioned header from McMillan.
The scoring continued with Dempsey feeding Byrne for a clinically taken fourth in the 83rd minute and despite a Robbie Creevy goal in injury time, the Wicklow men held on for a deserved three points.
UCD: Mark McGinley; Hugh Douglas, James Kavanagh, David O’Connor; Liam Traynor, Barry McCabe (Craig Walsh, 61), Robbie Creevy, Gary Burke (Dean Clarke, 61), Tom O’Halloran (Samir Belhout, 79); Cillian Morrison, David McMillan.
Subs not used: Gerard Barron (GK), Gareth Matthews, Dinny Corcoran, Mark Langtry.
Bray Wanderers: Darren Quigley; Daire Doyle, Shane O’Connor, David Webster, Conor Early; Ismahil Akinade (Kevin Knight, 83), Gary Dempsey (Kevin O’Connor, 90+1), Dean Zambra, Kieran Marty Waters; John Mulroy, Jason Byrne.
Subs not used: Danny O’Connor, Adam Mitchell, Peter Thomas, Sean Holmes, Sean Hurley.
Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford)
