Bohemians boss Keith Long concerned over Bray’s fate

Bohemians manager Keith Long has admitted to having some concerns about the prospect that Bray's results might be expunged from the league but he says that the more immediate problem is the damage done to the game here by the latest financial crisis to hit a Premier Division side.

“That’s the worst case scenario, to lose those points, because we earned them on the pitch against their full-strength side,” said Long, who spent a decade at the Carlisle Grounds.

“So it would be very difficult to take. But obviously it is very disappointing for us all concerned with the league to have this dragged through the mud again. I’ve heard people say it was on the cards. When you hear some of the stories around the contracts being offered for players that they have at the club it’s very disappointing.

“We are looking for respect in the league. Dundalk gave us an element of that last year with the European run. There was a good news story for once around the League of Ireland. Unfortunately this sort of news story is more common place in our league and it’s very disappointing.”

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In the event that Bray’s results were to be stripped out, Bohemians would be dragged back towards the relegation dogfight with the two closest clubs – Sligo and Finn Harps – both gaining ground as only the Dubliners took six points from their games against Harry Kenny’s side.

That, though, remains a long shot with Bray chairman Denis O’Connor suggesting on Tuesday that he expects to have a plan in place soon to pay all player wages until the end of the season.

“They’ll be paid up to this Friday and I think we’ll have a plan in place to pay them until the end of the season, hopefully around the weekend,” he told local radio. “This happened very quickly; I have been working actively on it, so I think a lot will happen in the next 24 hours.”

Long has signed Ciaran O'Connor on loan from Dundalk until the end of the season but he and Georgie Poynton are unavailable for Wednesday evening's game against Stephen Kenny's side under the terms of the respective agreements. Keith Dalton has joined the Dubliners on a permanent deal but the move has not gone through in time for the midfielder to feature.

Oscar Brennan and Dano Byrne, meanwhile, are suspended for the hosts while Kenny is without Conor Clifford and, most likely, Stephen O'Donnell, who limped out of the win in Bray last Friday with a hamstring problem.