Bray Wanderers 4 Dundalk 2
A scintillating opening quarter of an hour saw Bray book their place in the Semi Finals of the EA SPORTS MU19 League of Ireland Enda McGuill Cup.
After a frenetic first period, Wanderers led 4-2 at the interval on Sunday afternoon at the Woodlands in Greystones.
And saw out the second half in disciplined style to move in the final four of the competition.
The Lilywhites had came from 1-0 down at half time last week at the same venue to win the League Tier 2 (North) contest 4-1.
But this time round, the Seagulls led 3-0 after 15 minutes before taking a 4-0 cushion on the 32nd minute.
With some spice left over from the residue of last week, the Green and White’s hit the front after just seven minutes.
From Jack Kehoe’s through ball, Thomas Morgan tangled with a Dundalk defender. Away goalkeeper Sean Molly gathered but spilled which allowed Lewis Jacobs to tap into an empty net.
That lead was doubled in the 13th minute.
Daniel Chukwu intercepted as the visitors tried to play out off a goal-kick, He jinked infield off the right flank, skipped past a tackle and struck a 20-yard left-footed drive that went in off the right hand post.
Play had barely restarted when it became 3-0 in the 14th minute.
After good work Kehoe, Chukwu fed Morgan to fire a 15-yard shot to the net.
It got even better in the 32nd minute.
From another goal-kick, Chukwu pressed. Jacobs intercepted and played in Morgan who blasted in first time on the swivel from inside the penalty.
However, the Louth outfit rallied. And pulled one back through Callum Bonner in the 39th minute after a breakaway off a Bray corner.
Then in the 44th minute, Bonner latched onto a ball over the top to lob on form 20-yards.
The second half couldn’t live up the heights of the opening period as Bray saw out the last eight tie with a common sense approach.
Yet the away side went close to a third six minutes into stoppage time when Oisin Coleman’s snap-shot off a corner was superbly tipped onto the crossbar and over by Jamie Molloy.
Elsewhere in the last eight of the Cup, Shelbourne defeated St. Patrick’s Athletic 3-1 at Richmond Park; Galway United overcame Cobh Ramblers 6-2 at Maree Oranmore FC while Shamrock Rovers edged out Sligo Rovers 2-1 at Roadstone.
Bray Wanderers: Jamie Molloy; Joshua Kerr, Caleb O’Neill, Callum Goad, Leon Ajala; Jack Kehoe, Ben Clarke; Daniel Chukwu, Thomas Morgan, Roland Olakanye; Lewis Jacobs.
Subs: Alex Nolan, Harry Sherlock, Brent Culbert, Luca Mulhare, Paddy Kildee-Doolan, Dylan Ryan, Phillip Cooney, David Winkler.
Dundalk: Sean Molloy; Jack Watters, Craig Moore, Ben Carroll, Jake Hough; Senan Mullen; Callum Bonner, Anthony Mayo, Oisin Coleman, Conor O’Gorman; Josh Hand.
Subs: Ryan Boyle, Mark Leavy, Cian Bolger, Scott Brady, Samuel Case, Samuel Soyemi, Donnacha McNamara, Luke Povall, Samuel Safaei.
Referee: Glen Geraghty. Assistants: Phillip Harrison, Niall McLoughlin.
* Bray goal scorers Daniel Chukwu, Thomas Morgan, and Lewis Jacobs.
