Bray Wanderers 2-1 Dundalk
Dundalk winger Daryl Horgan scored before being sent off on his birthday as Karl Moore hit a sublime free kick winner to complete Bray Wanderers’ remarkable comeback as they stunned the champions at the Carlisle Grounds.
Defeat marked the first time since September 2013 that Dundalk have lost two consecutive league games.
It certainly wasn't the result manager Stephen Kenny would have wanted ahead of Wednesday’s big Champions League play-off first leg against Legia Warsaw at the Aviva Stadium.
Dundalk do remain six points clear at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division table, though second-placed Cork City have two games in hand.
The win greatly eases Bray’s relegation worries as they’re now 10 points clear of bottom side Longford Town with a game less played.
Reeling from Friday’s loss at Galway United, Dundalk started purposefully and were a goal to the good inside 12 minutes.
Bray keeper Peter Cherrie had already made an instinctive parry save from Robbie Benson’s improvised overhead kick before Dundalk’s reward arrived.
Skipper Stephen O’Donnell won a header with Kevin Lynch on the right to find David McMillan to thread a ball through for the run of Benson.
The attacking midfielder’s drive was touched away one-handed by Cherrie only to leave Horgan a simple tap-in for his sixth league strike of the season on the day he turned 24.
Horgan was then was inches from doubling Dundalk’s lead six minutes later.
McMillan, once more, provided a telling through ball. Horgan raced in behind only to see his shot beat Cherrie and trickle agonisingly across goal to hit the far post.
Bray continued to live dangerous with right-back Hugh Douglas heading off their line from Paddy Barrett’s header following Mountney’s 27th minute corner.
Harry Kenny’s side relieved the pressure with their first chance on the half hour; Dylan Connolly galloping away onto John Sullivan’s pass to shoot narrowly over the top. That instilled some confidence into the home side who were level six minutes before the interval.
The pace and tenacity of Connolly won a free kick on the left. Lynch’s delivery was headed back across goal by Douglas for Mark Salmon to stab home with Dundalk midfielder Chris Shields merely helping the ball into the net.
In a far tighter second half, Dundalk struggled to break down a dogged Bray who thought they’d taken the lead on 69 minutes.
Sullivan’s looped through ball found the run of Connolly who shot to the net, only to see an assistant referee’s flag raised for offside.
However Bray continued to trouble Dundalk and their winner came on 80 minutes.
Dane Massey was yellow-carded for a foul on danger man Connolly. Moore provided further punishment with a terrific free kick, curling the ball up and over the wall and into the corner of Gary Rogers’ net.
Dundalk’s misery was compounded three minutes into added time when Horgan was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Connolly.
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna, Tim Clancy, Kevin Lynch; John Sullivan; Gareth McDonagh (Jason Marks 62), Mark Salmon, Karl Moore, Dylan Connolly; Ger Pender (Chris Lyons 81).
Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Paddy Barrett, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Stephen O’Donnell,Chris Shields; John Mountney (Darren Meenan 71), Robbie Benson (Ciaran Kilduff 66), Daryl Horgan; David McMillan (Michael O’Connor 82).
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).
