BRAY Wanderers are just three points off the bottom of the table after a well deserved victory over a Dundalk side who have now gone almost two months without a league win.

Rooted to the bottom for so long, Bray have managed to claw their way back into things after a couple of impressive wins in recent weeks and they certainly started like a side with renewed confidence.

Shane O'Neill left Wayne Hatswell in his wake after just three minutes only to fire over. The centre-forward retired with a shoulder injury 12 minutes later but his replacement Gary Shaw was straight into the thick of the action, having a penalty appeal waved away after seeing a shot crash off Simon Madden's outstretched arms.

Jake Kelly almost embarrassed Peter Cherrie with a cheeky free-kick that had the Dundalk goalkeeper scrambling across his line to save and Chris Shields was then off target with a header from 12-yards.

It was no surprise when the Seagulls hit the front after 34 minutes. Shaw beat a Dundalk player on the edge of the box before showing good strength to hold off Liam Burns and beat Cherrie with a well placed effort.

The home side finally showed some signs of life approaching half-time. Daniel Kearns saw his shot cleared off the line by Derek Prendergast and Matt Gregg did well to parry a Dean Bennett effort.

It proved to be something of a false dawn as Gregg was rarely called into action after that and when Chris Shields turned home a Jake Kelly cross from close range in the 65th minute, the points never looked in doubt.

DUNDALK: Cherrie; Madden, Burns, Hatswell, Kelly; Kearns, McDonnell, Bennett, Gaynor (Tipton, 56 mins); Kuduzovic, Lennon.

BRAY WANDERERS: Gregg; Webster, S O'Connor, Prendergast, Houston; Zambra, D O'Connor, Dempsey (Massey, 85 mins), Kelly; O'Neill (Shaw, 15 mins), Shields.

REFEREE: Dave McKeon (Meath).