It may be a case of too little too late for Bray Wanderers as their European hopes hinge on the final game of the season, but they well deserved this victory against 10-man Longford.
They were cruising at halftime, leading 3-0, but the home team seemed changed beyond recognition on the resumption and Shay Zeller gave them some hope with a 70th-minute header. However, referee Pat Whelan twice disallowed "goals" in the closing stages.
Bray's first goal came when Jason Byrne headed home Colm Tresson's 20th-minute cross.
Longford Town were reduced to 10 men in the 27th minute when Robbie Farrell was sent off following a dangerous tackle on Barry O'Connor. Stephen Fox doubled Bray's advantage just five minutes later and Tresson fired home the third seven minutes before half time.
LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien, Murphy, W Byrne, Riordan, Smith, Holt, Kelly, Coyle, Zeller, Notaro, Farrell. Subs: McCormack for O'Brien (59 mins); Perth for Smith (64 mins); O'Connor for Holt (71 mins).
BRAY WANDERERS: Walsh, Tresson, Farrell, Lynch, Doohan, Gormley, O'Connor, Britton, Fox, Byrne, Keogh. Subs: O'Brien for O'Connor (33 mins); Ryan for Keogh (70 mins); Long for Gormley (90 mins).
Referee: P Whelan (Dublin).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)