Bray Wanderers 1 Finn Harps 0
Captain Conor Kenna led by example to score his first goal for Bray Wanderers to further ease their relegation worries as they put the brakes on Finn Harps’ unbeaten run.
The deserved victory at the Carlisle Grounds stretches Bray’s run without defeat to five games, with the added bonus of a fifth consecutive clean sheet.
More importantly, it edges Harry Kenny’s side eight points clear of bottom-of-the-table Longford Town and four ahead of Wexford Youths in the relegation play-off spot.
Bray dominated the first half and ought to have been more than what proved their match winning goal to the good at the interval. John Sullivan set the tone three minutes in when he wasn’t too far over the top with a 20-yard drive. Left winger Dylan Connolly was guilty of a bad miss eight minutes later, shooting wide after Darragh Noone treaded him in on goal.
The pressure finally told on 32 minutes. Karl Moore chipped over Bray’s third corner of the game and central defender Kenna found the roof of the net with a firm header.
Harps did not register a chance on goal until five minutes later when former Bray winger Adam Hanlon brought a save from Peter Cherrie with a 25-yard shot.
Ollie Horgan’s side were better on the resumption, with half-time substitute Ruairi Keating wasting a chance to equalise on 63 minutes.
Another substitute, Raymond Foy, should have done better on 72 minutes, blazing over the bar from Hanlon’s pull-back.
