Scully refuses to throw in towel

Having seen his title aspirations shot down and his team reduced to nine men, it was surprising to find Pat Scully as composed as he was following Shamrock Rovers' 3-0 defeat in Bray on Tuesday.

Rovers remain second in the table, but now sit a full eight points off leaders Drogheda with just six games to play. Scully refused to concede the title but he cut a resigned figure nonetheless following the defeat.

Crucially, Rovers lost two men in four fiery first-half minutes and struggled to cope thereafter as Bray exposed their opponent's vulnerability. A rant from the manager seemed likely yet failed to materialise.

"We shot ourselves and the composure was poor," said Scully. "It's very, very tough now. We'll keep going but Drogheda are the real big favourites. We have Cork on Friday and that's a tough place to go but we have to get big results.

"Five points behind would have been tough but eight points gives us only an outside chance. This was a big game to close the gap but we've killed ourselves, killed ourselves."

Scully refused to publicly criticise referee Damien Hancock for his controversial stewarding of the game but the frustration simmering beneath was unmistakable.

"You can't say a word about referees," he said, smiling. "You don't even dream of saying there's a bit of injustice in this league.

"I don't know about (goalkeeper Barry Murphy's sending off for handling outside his area), I have to say I thought it was a really, really harsh decision.

"The second red was fair as Paul (Shiels, who struck an opponent) showed a bit of inexperience and was very stupid. He'll be fined with that."

The victory was Bray's first at home in three months and manager Eddie Gormley dedicated it to fireman Brian Murray who died tragically in the town last week and who held strong ties with the club.

"It was an emotional time," said Gormley. "People have to lift themselves after the worst tragedy to probably hit Bray on record. He was only a young man and I said it to the boys, we play for Brian and to be fair they gave 120 per cent."