Rafter brace takes Derry to victory
Michael Rafter scored twice as Derry City maintained their excellent start to the season with a comfortable 2-0 win over Bray Wanderers at the Brandywell.
The win consolidates Declan Devine's Candystripes' second place in the table and narrow's the gap to two points on leaders Sligo Rovers who play at UCD tomorrow.
Rafter, who also scored in Friday's 4-0 home win over Shelbourne, put Derry ahead on 26 minutes when his speculative shot from distance was fumbled into the net by Bray's stand-in keeper Sean Holmes.
Derry's second goal arrived ten minutes into the second half when striker Rafter headed home Paddy McEleney's chip to the back post.
Declan O'Brien scored a late penalty to rescue a point for Drogheda United in a 1-1 draw with Cork City at Hunky Dorys Park. O'Brien calmly finished from the spot after Cork right-back John Dunleavy had handled a Peter Hynes flick on.
Cork led from the 33rd minute with a goal from Shane Duggan.
The Cork midfielder pounced on a mistake by Graham Rusk to power forward and shoot. And though the ball struck defender Shane Grimes, it came back to Duggan who drilled it low to the net from just outside the box.
