Lilywhites have to be commended for beating Storm Betty

Storm Betty battered Bray from evening into night last Friday. But even it could not stop Dundalk marching to the FAI Cup Quarter Finals via a 1-0 win over Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle grounds.

Bray have invested a lot of money into producing a fine pitch with a great surface. They deserve nothing but praise. In the old days the pitch could never have taken the elements that battered down on Friday. But the new pitch was magnificent by the fact that it was playable from beginning to end.

It was a dreadful night for football. But both sides battled all the way, as each tried to open the gate that would leave hopes of a day in the Aviva alive. The result saw the Lilywhites qualifying for their 14th quarter final in a row. I have never seen that before.

Dundalk were by far the dominant team, yet they only got the knockout punch with five minutes to go. It was Daryl Horgan's shot that took a deflection off a Bray player that in the end won the game.

I have to give full credit to a Dundalk side that slugged it out with a Bray side that gave nothing away. Yet Dundalk always knew they would get a chance eventually, which they did and took it well.

The ghost of Stephen Kenny seemed to be in the stadium when his old boys Hoban and Horgan combined for the winner. Hoban was only on the field as a sub when he set up Horgan.

Daryl played well in the awful conditions, as did the rest of the team. Considering it was played with incessant rain and storm force winds, O'Donnell's team adapted better to the conditions than the home side.

But once again, like last week Dundalk won this game by playing ugly. It seemed as time went on it was not going to happen. In the end it did.

Dundalk lost Ryan O'Kane five minutes from the break when he picked up an injury. New signing Sam Durrant played very well on the wing in the second half.

For me, Louie Annesley produced a great display at the back. He is a tough defender and his black eye after the game showed how much he has given to Dundalk.

Stephen O'Donnell says he is looking very much like a central defender as the weeks go on. With Darren Brownley in the centre along with him, Louie will improve. The Gibraltarian had seen his form slump of late. But he was back to his normal confident self on Friday.

Dundalk spent most of the entire game lobbing high balls into the Bray half. The first Division side were able to cope with everything Dundalk could throw at them. The game was crying out for substitutions. As has been the case in many games this season. 

O'Donnell left it very late to do the switches. There was 14 minutes left when Pat Hoban came on for Johannes Yli Kokko and John Martin was replaced by Alfie Lewis.

Alfie Lewis revelled in the muck. He is a powerhouse and was the man who gave Dundalk the better grip of proceedings going into the final stages. He was in the midfield engine room, strengthening it greatly.

Hoban can always create something special, which he did. The Dublin media are calling him a veteran striker. He is anything but. Pat could go on for some time.

Bray are seventh in the First Division. Despite that hurdle, their manager Ian Ryan had them well organised and Dundalk always found it difficult make breakthroughs.

Dundalk lined up with Shepperd in goals. The two full backs were Archie Davies and Robbie McCourt. The two central defenders were Darren Brownlie and Louie Annesley. The five midfielders were Daniel Kelly, Johannes, Horgan, Ryan O'Kane and Conor Malley.

John Martin was the lone striker. Having said this John was often out on the wing working hard and constantly searching for the ball.

The midfield seemed to lack a player of bite and steel. The one player who would come near that was Greg Sloggett. Gregg was left on the bench, causing speculation that he might be injured.

For much of the night it looked as if Dundalk would be frustrated by Storm Betty and a well organised Bray defence. Dundalk had the elements of Betty with them in the first half but failed to take advantage.

Two hundred Dundalk fans travelled. They are usually in a section with no cover. But Bray took care of that by allowing all of them into the main stand.

Betty's rain never stopped for the entire game. It did allow Bray to bring Dundalk down to their level. But the Lilywhites controlled everything. Yet they could not get a shot on target for most of the game.

Daniel Kelly was the one player who found space down the right and did cause Bray problems. Other than that, Dundalk found it difficult to get their forward players involved.

Kelly was set up well by Conor Malley early in the first half. He should have scored. The ball just drifted across the face of the goal. 

It looked as if Dundalk had the breakthrough on 24 minutes when John Martin was chopped down in the box. Up stepped Connor Malley with the penalty. He smacked the ball off the crossbar.

Dundalk have now missed four of their last six penalties. Had the latest gone in, the game would have been over by half time.

Daniel Kelly put Johannes clear on the half hour. He should have scored. Dundalk had clear calls for a penalty after John Martin was clipped by Dane Massey in the box. The referee did not want to know.

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Two minutes into injury time Dundalk had another chance. Archie Davis got a great cross into the box. John Martin's header was cleared off the Bray line by a defender, Martin had also come close in the first half with another effort that came off the Bray post.

Dundalk substitute Sam Durrant showed great quality when his cross went into the Bray danger zone. Archie Davis shot narrowly over. Bray should have scored on 72 minutes when Callum Thompson got control of a dropping ball.

Luckily for Dundalk he skied it over and into the eye of Storm Betty. Sam replaced Ryan O'Kane at half time. He picked up a shin injury. Dundalk nearly scored on 74 minutes when Dicky Kelly's shot was cleared off the line by Bray's Sean Quinn.

With 15 minutes remaining Stephen O'Donnell made the changes that won the game. Pat Hoban and Alfie Lewis came on for John Martin and Johannes Yi-Koko. 

Within 11 minutes Dundalk got their winner. Conor Malley got a cross into the Bray box. The ball was knocked down by Pat Hoban to Daryl Horgan. Horgan unleashed a powerful effort that took a wicked deflection off Bray's Cole Omorehiomwan.

It sailed over the head of the Bray keeper and into the net. It was the winner. There was no way back for Bray after that.

Dundalk had stared storm Betty in the eye and faced her down. It was a great goal. Now can Dundalk go any further in this competition? They have nothing to fear from any team. But a home draw would be a great help. We wait and see.

Stephen O'Donnell told me in an interview on Saturday that it was always going to be tough to play Bray in their own backyard.

The Dundalk boss said he knew his side would always have to be patient, as would he. That patience worked out well when he sprung Pat Hoban from the bench. The Galway Wizard made a clear chance for Daryl Horgan, who volleyed home.

The manager said he felt his side got their just rewards against a Bray side who were well organised and who just sat in for the entire 90 minutes. The manager is right. It's always difficult to break down a team who pack their defence with their entire team.

But once again O'Donnell says his team showed great control and patience in the game. This paid off even though it took four minutes from time for Dundalk to get the winner.

Stephen O'Donnell says the conditions were as bad as one is going to get, as a result of the storm. He paid tribute to the Bray ground staff, who he says have turned the pitch at the Carlisle Grounds into one of the highest standards. The manager says it held up well right to the end.

He disagreed with me that Dundalk continually played a game of just lobbing high balls into the Bray penalty area. He says he was very happy with the style and the way his side used the ball.

The Galwegian felt that Louie Annesley did very well at the back. He says that maybe he was rushed back too early following his illness. The manager says that most people have no idea at how much Louie had to go through. 

On the penalty miss O'Donnell says that if they had scored then Dundalk would have gone on to win by much more. On Ryan O'Kane, he says that Ryan developed a problem with his shin. He was hopeful he would be back for the game against Shamrock Rovers.

The draw for the cup took place Tuesday afternoon. Dundalk have made it to the quarter finals of the cup for the 14th year in a row and on this occasion they will collide with Galway United away.

Looking at the game on Friday, overall, I thought it was a difficult game to watch. As they did against Sligo, Dundalk won ugly against Bray. But to be fair to Dundalk that was the way they had to play as they were playing in a severe storm and also against a team who packed their defence.

It was always going to be ugly. At this stage of the season all that matters is that Dundalk got the win.

Dundalk are still in with a chance of qualifying for Europe. On Friday they have to go to the Tallaght Stadium to take on Shamrock Rovers. Dundalk have played the Hoops twice in the past six weeks. Both games were in Oriel.

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They knocked Rovers out of the cup with 10 men for almost the entire game three weeks ago. I think they can get a draw at the home of the champions.

I hope fans refrain from giving out at the way Dundalk played on Friday. I saw non-league Ashtown Villa beat Dundalk at Oriel in 1991. Dundalk went on to win the league. And in 2002 I saw Portmarnock beat Dundalk in the cup.

The Lilywhites went on to win promotion to the Premier Division. In other words, supporters must realise that anything can happen in the cup. The Oriel Park side are building the season up to what could be a good climax.

Have a safe week everybody. Please remember to be careful out there.