Athlone Town 1 Bray Wanderers 4
A three-goal blitz inside the opening 17 minutes saw Bray record their fifth win in a row in all competitions.
The Seasiders led 4-0 at the break on Sunday afternoon against Athlone to record their fourth U19 LOI Academy Tier 2 (North) victory on the spin.
Roland Olakanye opened the scoring at the Athlone Town Stadium after just six minutes when he latched onto a Thomas Morgan ball inside the box and drilled low into the net.
The same duo combined again in the 11th minute to make it 2-0 as Olakanye netted again with Morgan providing the assist.
Morgan himself got in on the scoring act in the 17th minute. He fired to the net from a neat Ben Clarke pass to put the visitors 3-0 ahead.
Eight minutes before the interval, it became 4-0 to the Green and White’s. This time, a Zack Nolan corner found the head of Jack Keogh who steered his attempt to the net.
Wanderers continued to dominate after the turnaround.
Olakanye had a chance to complete his hat trick when he was put in the clear by Clarke, but he shot straight at ‘Town goalkeeper Charlie Raper.
Clarke himself should added to the Wicklow teams tally soon after. Following a deft flick from Lewis Jacobs, the captain found himself clear in the box, but his shot was smothered by Raper.
Almost immediately in the 54th minute, Athlone took advantage of some confusion in the away defence to claw one back through Agbo Babatunde.
Clarke had another chance to extend Bray’s lead, but his header failed to hit the target.
Substitute Alex Nolan spurned a gilt edged opportunity before the end when he pounced on a loose ball but put his effort over the bar.
Elsewhere in the section, Derry City drew 4-4 with Longford Town while Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps played out a score-less draw.
The results mean Bray top the Division on 12 points from five games alongside Dundalk.
Bray Wanderers: Jack Ross; Max Hennessy, Caleb O’Neill, Callum Goad, Zach Nolan; Jack Kehoe, Ben Clarke, Hayden Roche, Thomas Morgan, Roland Olakanye; Lewis Jacobs.
Subs: Daniel Chukwu, Alex Nolan, Leon Ajala, Joshua Kerr, Scott Higgins, Luca Mulhare, Brent Culbert, Jamie Molloy.
* Bray face a top of the table clash with Dundalk next Sunday at Ballycorus.
That will be a dress rehearsal for their Enda Guill Cup Quarter Final between the teams at the same venue on Sunday August 27.