Treaty United held at home by Wexford FC in First Division

TREATY United had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Wexford FC in their SSE Airtricity League First Division fixture at the Markets Field on Monday night.

Treaty, who secured a 1-1 draw away to leaders Dundalk just 72 hours earlier, dominated the First Division contest with Wexford from start to finish, but ultimately couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard.

The hosts will be frustrated and will see it as a missed opportunity to pile further pressure on third-placed Bray Wanderers who suffered defeat to UCD on Monday night.

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The students themselves occupy fifth place in the First Division table and are now just two points adrift of Tommy Barrett’s men as the scramble for playoff places becomes exponentially interesting.

Treaty could’ve taken the lead as early as the fourth minute. Wexford goalkeeper Paul Martin saved a first-time effort from Karl O’Sullivan after he collected Joe Hanson’s cross.

Ten minutes later, Martin was tested again; O’Sullivan was again the architect as he played in Devitt, the latter’s header forced an acrobatic save.

Treaty threatened to score again on 27 minutes. Steven Healy sent Lee J Lynch away down the left, the latter found Devitt inside the box but he couldn’t direct his effort on target.

Ben Lynch almost broke the deadlock on 39 minutes. O’Sullivan and Lee J Lynch combined to set up the Treaty left-back who was denied from six yards out.

The woodwork maintained parity three minutes from the break. Devitt saw his initial 25-yard shot blocked before firing the rebound off the post.

Wexford survived a major scare four minutes into the second half. Joe Hanson teed up Devitt with a stylish backheel pass, the latter’s shot forced an acrobatic save from Martin.

Treaty were denied a penalty on 53 minutes, much to the dismay of their manager Tommy Barrett.

Joe Hanson appeared to be brought down in the box but no spot kick was awarded. Barrett was shown a yellow card for voicing his disapproval.

Treaty almost rued their numerous missed chances on 77 minutes. Mikie Rowe’s first-time volleyed effort hit the crossbar after he collected James Crawford’s cross inside the box.

Rowe missed two further attempts thereafter. His first effort was repelled by Chambers and his subsequent 20-yard effort missed the target completely resulting in a scoreless draw.

Next up for Treaty United is a home fixture with Finn Harps at the Markets Field on Friday night, 7.45pm.

Treaty United: Corey Chambers; Evan O’Connor, Eoin Martin, Robbie Lynch, Ben Lynch; Steven Healy (Yoyo Mahdy 76), Connor Wilson (Colin Conroy 90); Lee J Lynch (Nikodem Kozlowski 86), Lee Devitt, Karl O’Sullivan; Joe Hanson (Trpimir Vrljičak 76).

Wexford FC: Paul Martin, Ryan Butler, Dean Larkin (Zayd Abada 65), Robbie McCourt, James Crawford; Conor Levingston, Ryan Scanlon (Josh Lyons 86); Mikie Rowe, Darragh Levingston, Calum Flynn (Ryan Kelly 71); Aaron Dobbs.

Referee: Ryan Maher