BRAY WANDERERS MANAGER Harry Kenny felt they were unlucky to leave Turner’s Cross empty-handed last night, despite seeing Cork City extend their lead at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division with their 11th win in 11 games this season.
City are now 12 points clear thanks to goals from Sean Maguire and Johnny Dunleavy, but a late header from Bray defender Derek Foran set up a tense finish on Leeside as John Caulfield’s men ended the first series of games with another three points.
The FAI Cup holders have yet to falter in 2017. With two thirds of the season remaining and a sizeable gap already separating the leaders from the chasing pack — which is headed by Dundalk and Bray — the title could be heading to Cork in October for the first time in 12 years.
Nevertheless, City were second-best during last night’s second half, when Bray threatened to make them rue their failure to make their first-half dominance count. The visitors had goalkeeper Peter Cherrie to thank for keeping the deficit to the bare minimum.
“We sorted out a few things at half-time and got our passing game going,” said Bray boss Harry Kenny, whose side remain in third place, level on points with Dundalk, who also suffered their fourth defeat of the season last night at the hands of Galway United.
“I thought we were really good for a good half an hour to 35, 40 minutes even. I thought we dominated the game [in the second half]. Based on that display in the second half, I thought we should maybe have gotten something from the game.”
Although he pointed out that “the table doesn’t lie”, Kenny admitted — having seen his team put City’s winning run under threat in the closing stages — that he’s “hugely surprised” by the size of their lead at such an early juncture in the season.
He said: “Even at this earlier stage with 11 games gone, it’s theirs to lose. Fair dues to them. They’ve kept it going. In my view they’re beatable. We started seeing that in the second half. But you have to hold your hands up. They’re churning out the results, they’re scoring goals and they’re dangerous up around the top end of the pitch.”
Kenny added: “I don’t think everyone is 12 points worse off than that. But saying that, it is what it is. They’ve done fabulous to do what they’re doing. John [Caulfield] has done a great job.
“The new signings he got in are after making a huge difference. The big lad at the back, [Ryan] Delaney, and [Conor] McCormack in the middle of the pitch have done brilliant for them. Fair dues. They’re going well.”
