First Div: Bray battle past Treaty to rise to fourth

Bray Wanderers rose to fourth place in the table on Friday night following a hard-fought 2-1 win over Treaty United at the Carlisle Grounds.

Kieran Cruise gave the Seagulls an early lead before Peter Grogan doubled their advantage just before the half hour mark.

But Treaty battled gamely and halved the deficit in the second half through Leon Kirrane - although it was not enough to salvage a point.

Seeking a third league win on the spin for the first time since May 2021, Bray Wanderers started the better of the two and took the lead inside just seven minutes.

Cruise - who joined Bray during the off-season from Shamrock Rovers - opened the scoring with a toe-poke finish on the edge of the box.

Ireland under-19 international Freddie Turley found the left-back after following a throw-in, and Cruise made no mistake in scoring.

Wanderers exerted heavy pressure on the visitors following their opener and dominated the play.

But they were almost sucker-punched by Tommy Barrett's troops in the 22nd minute when Mark Walsh curled an effort just wide of Stephen McGuinness’ goal.

However, Bray did not have to wait much longer to score a second and it came just three minutes before the half-hour mark through Grogan.

The Carlow teenager tapped home with a good finish after he was found unmarked in the box by Conor Knight’s cross after Treaty full-back Oisin O’Reilly was dispossessed.

Stung by that setback, the Shannonsiders did their best to get back into the game before the interval and almost did on two occasions through Alec Byrne and Walsh.

Byrne was found by his namesake Mark with a quick free kick before pulling his effort wide of goal.

Their best opportunity came through Walsh as he skewed an effort horribly over the bar after Bray failed to