Bad calls put Lilies in tight spot

IT was anything but a Good Friday for Dundalk as match referee Jim McKell crucified the champions with one of the most abject displays of refereeing that Oriel Park has witnessed in years.

The Tipperary official, who on a previous assignment to Dundalk in 2014 booked Andy Boyle twice but failed to send him off, hit the headlines once more on Friday night by awarding Bray Wanderers not one but two dubious penalties that played a pivotal role in the Seagulls claiming their first away win at the Carrick Road venue since 2012.

Ironically that game five years ago next month was the last time that Dundalk had conceded two penalties in the same game. While there could be little complaint about Jason Byrne’s double from the spot that night, the same cannot be said about Gary McCabe’s brace at the weekend.

Rubbing salt in the wounds was the fact that Stephen Kenny had gone public with a series of comments about the fact his side hadn’t been awarded a spot kick of their own in exactly a year just two days before the game.

Without ever really hitting their full stride, Dundalk had largely bossed the opening 50 or so minutes. While the Lilywhites undoubtedly lacked a cutting edge, Bray’s threat up until that point was effectively non-existent. Their only chance of the first half had come just after the half-hour mark when Ryan Brennan flicked on a corner that was headed clear. That meant that Harry Kenny’s visitors had to wait until the 51st minute to register a first shot at Gary Rogers.

Then came the first penalty award two minutes later, with Stephen O’Donnell, on as a halftime substitute for Conor Clifford, adjudged to have fouled Aaron Greene as he broke away on the right.

There appeared to be little or no contact, but McKell immediately pointed to the spot with McCabe firing to the right hand corner of the net just past the despairing dive of Gary Rogers, who had gone the right way.

In the referee’s defence, while it was a soft penalty to give, it was one that the home fans would have been screaming for had the challenge been made at the other end.

Dundalk, to their credit, responded like champions by pulling a goal back within three minutes.

O’Donnell made up for conceding the spot kick moments earlier by playing a neat exchange with David McMillan at the edge of the area before dinking a shot over the advancing Peter Cherrie.

At 1-1 Oriel Park was rocking and you could have been forgiven for thinking there would only be one winner. Then came two McKell gaffes in the space of a minute. Chris Shields, who ran the show in midfield, made what looked to be a superb challenge to disposs Dylan Connolly as he looked to break down the left flank.

The home support was already up in arms over the referee’s decision to penalise their side for that challenge when a second penalty was awarded from the resultant free kick.

Connolly delivered the ball into the box himself but it was clear from an early stage it was overhit and Rogers caught it comfortably. Amidst the scramble in the box, Brennan fell on his backside and to even Bray’s surprise McKell pointed to the spot, having adjudged that Dane Massey had committed a foul. Replays would later show that it was Brennan who had actually swung out of Massey.

McCabe stepped up again and this time sent Rogers the wrong way with a cool finish to the same side to make it 2-1.

The decision had deflated everyone and while Dundalk did briefly look to respond their hopes of rescuing something from the game were all but ended on 74 minutes when Brennan slotted home from a rebound after Niclas Vemmelund had made a superb challenge to prevent a cross from the right from being turned in by John Sullivan.

It was a cruel blow on Dundalk, who seen Bray move level on points with them as Cork City extended their lead to nine points at the top of the table.

While this wasn’t a game they deserved to lose, it wasn’t a game they deserved to win either.

There are a number of things to be worked on, most notably their ruthlessness in attack.

Bray started the game with two midfielders in the full back positions and while Jamie McGrath at least tested Jason Marks at left back, Michael Duffy rarely troubled Keith Buckley.

Dundalk had dominated the first half but efforts from Clifford, Massey, Patrick McEleney and McMillan were all straight at Cherrie.

Indeed, for all the play the home side had, the Scottish goalkeeper was only really made to make one save of note on 17 minutes when McGrath collected a crossfield pass from Shields before beating Marks to get a shot away that Cherrie had to turn around the post.

McEleney would have another effort late in the half but curled just over in possibly the only other moment where Bray were breathing a sigh of relief. In fact, Shields looked Dundalk’s biggest threat at times, going closest just before the break when a long range drive deflected off Sean Hoare and wide.

It told you everything you needed to know about the game that the shot count read 11 to 1 at halftime, with Bray’s sole effort coming from a corner from McCabe that Brennan almost turned in, only for Vemmelund to hook clear. By the finish the Seagulls would have just six shots, two of them from the spot, making it almost unbelievable they won 3-1.

It didn’t get much better for Dundalk on the restart, with anything thrown at Cherrie all too comfortable for a ‘keeper of his quality.

The penalty decisions undoubtedly ruffled Dundalk’s feathers, but all in all there are plenty of things to work on.

The side’s set piece deliveries are simply not good enough at present. Duffy both overhit and underhit crosses from frees in the first half, while McEleney was also guilty of overhitting one. While the latter did score from a free kick earlier on this season away to Sligo, by and large Dundalk have lacked potency from set pieces as outlined by Clifford’s effort straight into the wall on Friday night.

So too does their ability to target a side’s weaknesses. In the course of six minutes between the 32nd and 38th minute on Friday, Mark Salmon, McCabe, Derek Foran and Sullivan were all in the referee’s book - the latter duo for three and two fouls respectively. Foran’s yellow came about after hacking down McMillan as he looked to burst through on goal.

At that point you could have been forgiven for betting on this game having a red card, but Dundalk never really tempted their opponents into making the sort of challenge that would have seen them dismissed.

McKell was booed off at the end and refused to speak to Kenny afterwards, with the manager also expressing frustration at the language the referee was adjudged to have used with his players.

Kenny’s comments on his side’s lack of penalties had backfired spectacularly. Whether those words had any bearing on the two controversial decisions or not, only McKell knows. Regardless, his actions have left Dundalk facing a huge uphill challenge in their bid to retain their title.