Bray Wanderers 0-1 Derry City

90th minute winners are part of the mythology of football. Every football fan can recall the games that went down to virtually the last kick, with the goal either coming 'at last' or else out of nowhere as the game appeared to be heading to it's prescribed conclusion. It's part of the thrill of football that goals have such a high value, making them a stronger currency than say, a rugby try, or a wicket in cricket and to score one at the very end of a game, when the opposition has no time to respond is utter joy.

Take last night for example; just as Bray and Derry seemed to be heading for a dull draw last night, just as the 'beat the traffic' brigade were vacating their seats, just as both managers will have been preparing their post-match talks, up stepped Gareth McGlynn to condemn Bray to defeat, hand the Candystripes the spoils, and change the game. It's a definitive act, a sucker blow; one moment you have a solitary point from a game, the next you might as well have won 5-0 as all three points are coming your way.

Derry haven't had the best of times at the Carlisle Grounds in recent years. As every League of Ireland fan knows, Bray Wanderers' home ground is the officially the coldest place in Ireland and the memory of April's 1-1 draw and last year's defeats here did little to warm any red and white clad supporters taking their seats last night.

I use the term 'seats' here in rather a loose way, much like many of the plastic arrangements themselves: Bray appear to have extended their welcome to their Northern rivals by having the red seats sprayed in white dust to match their colours. Anyone who managed to find a seat that wasn't already cracked or falling apart was rewarded with a layer of dirt on their clothes.

Stephen Kenny and his bench were presumably greeted with cleaner seats but it's a pretty good bet they sat just as uncomfortably, the morning papers reporting on the fact that staff at the club will receive just 25% of their wages this month in an effort to ease the club's growing financial problems. It was a poor game, in keeping with the subdued atmosphere with the ball spending much of the night getting an aeriel view of the Bray coastline and surrounding amusements.

Eddie McCallion came close to getting a rare goal in the first half when his superb long range effort crashed off the crossbar and Mark Farren followed suit just a few seconds later but while Derry had most of the ball, they struggled to create very many clear cut chances. Thankfully, McGlynn was on hand to header past Chris O'Connor just when it seemed Bray had done enough. Relief all around, with that on the faces of Kenny and his playing staff, particularly welcome. The handshakes and hugs all round were ample evidence of how much of a trial the last few weeks have been.

The win doesn't dispel the clouds that hang over the Brandywell at the moment, but the club's third league win on the trot did ensure that something positive came from the week and moves them up to third in the table. Just how important third place and its attendant financial benefits are may only be known at the season's end; it can only be hoped we aren't relying on our placing to be able to pay our players.

Bray Wanderers 0-1 Derry City pictures

Chasing the Dream

Thursday night last was a disappointing one for League of Ireland fans following St. Patrick’s Athletic’s 3-0 defeat to Steaua Bucharest in Romania. While defeat to the former European Cup winners and current 32nd ranked team in Europe was no shame, the manner of the Saints’ second half capitulation following a creditable scoreless first 45 minutes must have rankled with players and fans alike.

A frustrated John Cleese famously remarks in his 1986 film Clockwise, “It’s not the despair…I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand,” and both St. Pats and LOI fans could be forgiven for experiencing the same during the Europe League play-off game. Much of football’s allure is that, stripped of the money, the glitz, and the fanfare, 11 players take the field against 11 players regardless of any off-field chasm between the teams, and while the home side were massive favourites for the tie, the thought of being just 180 minutes away from a place in the mythical group stages of a European competition is enough to have even the most pessimistic supporter daring to dream.

Heavy favourites though Steaua might be, Irish hopes were raised by the manner in which Jeff Kenna’s side had progressed, disposing of the Maltese side Valletta and, even more impressively, Krylya Sovetov of Russia, despite being 3-0 down at one point in the second leg in Samara. Not only that, but the Inchicore outfit would play the match in Romania behind closed doors following a fans display of racist banners, sparing them the intimidating atmosphere of a typical Steaua Bucharest home game (and presumably the unfamiliar sight of 20,000 people at a football match).

No League of Ireland side has ever progressed through three rounds of European competition, and even if not every one of the fans who packed into McDowell’s pub on Thursday night was aware of that statistic, they were certainly aware of the historical achievement it would be to progress through a tie against the semi-finalists of just three years ago. Festooned with flags and pendants from previous European conquests, and adjacent to the Richmond Park pitch, the pub could accurately be described as the beating heartbeat of the Saints, and those gathered anxiously waited to see if there would be cause to nail another spoil of war to the wood behind the taps.

With anything between E1-2m at stake for the winners, as well as the massive increase in profile it was hard to escape the feeling that progress for the Saints would mean much more to the club and their league than it would for their opponents. An injection of that sort of cash would assure any Irish club’s medium term future and more romantically, the thought of seeing St. Pats playing a guaranteed five games against sides like AS Roma, Zenit St, Petersburg, Valencia and PSV Eindhoven is an impossibly seductive one.

At times it was a surreal experience. With the match inexplicably not being broadcast on Irish television, St. Pats fans and interested observers were forced to follow the game on an internet stream that grew progressively more stuttering as the evening wore on. The build up to a Damian Lynch shot on 78 minutes happened in a series of two second clips, the ball stopping in mid-pass to him and then, excruciatingly, just after the Dublin man’s low shot, leaving most of Inchicore in disbelieving suspense.

In the end the Romanians were able to move up several gears at critical moments and without an away goal it would be a miracle the like of which even this (supposed) land of saints would never have seen before were Kenna’s charges to progress on Thursday. So the dream appears to be over for another year and although it’s a matter of some debate whether Irish sides will perform as well next season as they have in the last few given anticipated cutbacks, one can only hope that at least one side manages to have that flirtation with greatness that may yet turn into a full scale relationship. Until then, we can dream.