Peter Cherrie denied Galway United three points at the death of this pulsating encounter that was overshadowed by the pending resignation of Bray manager Harry Kenny.

The Wanderers boss confirmed his decision via statement at the final whistle. His side fell behind but Galway had to twice come from behind in the second half before letting all three points slip through their fingers as Murray failed to beat Cherrie from the spot in the 92nd minute.

The result could be a killer blow to Bray’s outside hopes of catching fourth spot.

Galway struck first blood on 14 minutes. Kevin Devaney collected the ball wide on the right and cut inside, drifting past a couple of Bray defenders as he did so before bending a low finish to Peter Cherrie’s right.

Ryan Brennan created the leveller when he cleverly ignored the run of the offside Aaron Greene, whose movement seemed to distract the Galway defence as they left Marks completely unmarked to tap home.

Just two minutes into the second period, the Tribesmen yet again left Marks to his own devices inside the area and he punished them by dispatching Greene’s cross from the right.

Bray captain Conor Kenna was left incensed in the 65th minute when Tomas Connolly awarded a penalty against him. Murray kept his cool from 12 yards to level for Galway.

Kenna will say that justice was done in the 72nd minute when Holohan was penalised for a handball. Greene shifted the tie back in his side’s favour with a cool spot kick.

The excitement wasn’t over yet and there was still enough time for Bray’s European ambitions to be severely dented. A stunning strike from Rory Hale left the crossbar rattling and bounced out to the penalty spot where Devaney thundered in to drill it home and land his side a massive point.

But it could have been so much better for Galway. With two minutes of injury time already played, a free kick was launched into the box. Douglas had a grip of Stephen Folan and Connolly deemed it too strong for his liking. The away end went into raptures as they smelled three gargantuan points but they hadn’t counted on Cherrie keeping out Murray’s 12-yarder.

BRAY WANDERERS: Peter Cherrie; Calvin Rogers (Derek Foran, 59), Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna (Shane Heffernan, 87), Karl Moore; John Sullivan, Mark Salmon (Ger Pender, 76); Ryan Brennan, Darragh Noone, Jason Marks; Aaron Greene.

GALWAY UNITED: Conor Winn; Alex Byrne, Stephen Folan, Colm Horgan; Kevin Devaney (Gary Shanahan, 91), David Cawley, Rory Hale, Marc Ludden; Gavan Holohan (Conor Melody, 80), Ronan Murray; Eoin McCormack (Padraic Cunningham, 63)

Referee: Tomas Connolly.