CHAMPS ON TRACK!
Bray’s dream lives on despite huge effort from Pat’s
BRAY EMMETS 2-20 ST PATRICK’S 2-12
BRAY EMMETS received a seismic shock from a superb St Pat’s team before eventually securing their place in the 2016 Wicklow Senior hurling championship final against Carnew Emmets next week.
John Henderson’s men pulled away thanks to Padraig Doyle’s goal after 54 minutes but the reigning champions were only a point ahead before that and had looked under serious pressure on occasion from a tenacious St Pat’s outfit.
Bray will look to Christy Moorehouse as the architect of their progression to the decider and as the man who has kept their three-in-a-row dream alive after the county star bagged 1-14 over the course of the hour and showed tremendous skill and composure throughout.
John Henderson’s repositioning of Mikey Lee further out the field during the game was another pivotal moment as the Bray attacker started to control things from around the middle of the field and he got through a heap of work with the freedom of the field at his fingertips.
The impact of the subs was also a factor here with Padraig Doyle expertly judging a long ball from Mikey Lee after a fantastic catch from John Henderson to fire home past Eoghan O’Mahony for what was a really important goal and you also had Paul Cunningham coming in and making a nuisance of himself and bagging a point in the process.
But this was a game dominated by the men of St Pat’s for a time and they led by one at the break with the help of a well taken Stephen Morris goal and some wicked points from Andy O’Brien and company.
The Wicklow Town side were hungry for work in that opening half and they bagged the first score of the opening half after 30 seconds and a major upset was briefly on the cards.
But whereas Pat’s seemed to tire as the game wore on, Bray seemed to grow in confidence and the likes of John Henderson and the aforementioned Lee started to really flex their hurling muscle.
A lightening start for Michael Neary’s men saw them race into a 0-02 to 0-00 score after three minutes with points from Jim O’Brien and Andy O’Brien.
The early action was frantic with Andy O’Brien starting at half-forward and being picked up by Arran Murphy and Stephen Morris prowling inside. Gerry Connors, wearing the number six jersey, started at full-back and picked up Mikey Lee early on.
Diarmuid Masterson got Bray Emmets up and running with a really nice score that was engineered by strong pressing on the Pat’s defence as they tried to clear a ball before Christy Moorehouse started his scoring spree after he shook off the attentions of Eddie Kelly and John Connors to wallop over a beautiful score from 45 meters out.
A really magnificent point from Andy O’Brien from out on the sideline on the stand side just inside the Bray 45-meter line returned St Pat’s to the lead but this was rapidly answered by a Moorehouse free from all of 55 meters that sailed straight between the St Pat’s post.
This was game you just couldn’t take your eyes off for a second.
Good defending from Peter Walsh put Jim O’Brien off just enough with his effort from out on the sideline on the dugout side of the field in Aughrim.
Bray were guilty of sending a few balls into an unoccupied St Pat’s defence in the first half and one of these was cleared but only found the hand of John Henderson who was subsequently fouled by John ‘Bonner’ O’Brien maybe four meters inside the Bray 65-meter line. Up stepped Moorehouse and there was only one place the ball was going and that was over the bar to give Bray the lead for the first time in this game at 0-04 to 0-03.
Mikey Lee and Moorehouse made it 0-06 to 0-03 as Bray seemed to adjust to the feverish pitch of the Pat’s play but in a matter of minutes it was 0-07 to 0-05 with Andy O’Brien and John ‘Dee’ O’Brien pointing either side of a superb Diarmuid Masterson point.
And then Pat’s hit a purple patch. A long ball wasn’t dealt with by Peter O’Reilly in the Bray goal and like a flash Stephen Morris was in on top of him. Morris got his hurl to the ball and tried to connect but O’Reilly did enough to put him off momentarily but Morris managed a second swing and this time the ball scooted in over the line past the flailing Peter Kiely. 1-05 to 0-07, exactly what the doctor ordered for Pat’s.
George ‘Bee’ O’Brien pointed to make it 1-06 to 0-07 and St Pat’s then switched Andy O’Brien back to the full-forward position while Stephen Morris moved out to mark Arran Murphy on the wing.
A foul on Bray’s Christy Moorehouse saw the sharp-shooter swing over a fine point and the same man levelled matters twice in the next few minutes before Andy O’Brien sent Pat’s in leading by one at 1-08 to 0-10 at the end of a frantic first half of championship hurling.
There was hardly 30 seconds on the second half clock when John ‘Dee’ O’Brien fired over for Pat’s but from here on in Bray started to pick up the pace little by little.
Andy O’Brien fired wide from a free after Moorehouse had fouled Michael Connors but superb play from John Henderson at the back for Bray resulted in a pass to Mikey Lee who laid off to Moorehouse who split the posts and the same man levelled matters again by pointing a free won by by Mikey Lee who had made a marauding burst through the middle from midfield only to be fouled by Michael Connors. 0-12 to 1-09.
Michael Neary sent in Ricky Quinn for Stephen Morris while John Henderson unleashed Padraig Doyle in place of Marc Lennon who had been redployed to the edge of the square.
A foul on Diarmuid Masterson allowed Moorehouse give Bray the lead and they were never to lose it again.
Moorehouse pointed a free and then rounded his man to lash home his side’s opening goal to the delight of the Bray followers in Aughrim.
But before those same followers had returned their bums to their seats Andy O’Brien had the ball in the back of Peter O’Reilly’s net and the same man fired over a point from play moments later to close the gap to just a point.
Arran Murphy pointed after 17 minutes of the second half before Andy O’Brien pointed a free he had won himself and then Padraig Doyle cleverly allowed the ball to run its course over the head of corner-back Andy O’Brien before swinging the hurl at it and sending it home to the back of the Pat’s net.
Points from Moorehouse (2), Paul Cunningham, and Doyle himself left Pat’s in a commanding position at 2-19 to 2-11 before Andy O’Brien fired over Pat’s last score at the end of normal time but there was no way back and the game finished at 2-20 to 2-12 with Bray deserving winners in the end but with St Pat’s deserving every sort of plaudit for their gargantuan efforts in this game.
Scorers – Bray Emmets: Christy Moorehouse 1-14 (11f); Padraig Doyle 1-01; Diarmuid Masterson 0-02; Mikey Lee 0-01; Arran Murphy 0-01; Paul Cunningham 0-01.
St Pat’s: Andy O’Brien 1-06 (2f); John ‘Dee’ O’Brien 0-02; George ‘Bee’ O’Brien 0-02; Stephen Morris 1-00; Jim O’Brien 0-01.
Bray Emmets: Peter O’Reilly; Daire Lohan, Peter Kiely, Luke Maloney; Arran Murphy, John Henderson, Peter Walsh; Enda Forde, Marc Lennon; Cian O’Byrne, Eoin McCormack, Diarmuid Masterson; Christy Moorehouse, Mikey Lee, Cathal O Dulachain. Subs:
0 Eoghan O’Mahony; Andy O’Brien, John Connors, Thomas Keogh; Michael Connors, Gerry Connors, Eddie Kelly; George ‘Bee’ O’Brien, Terry Healy; Stephen Morris, John ‘ Bonner’ O’Brien, Jim O’Brien; John ‘Dee’ O’Brien, Andy O’Brien, Christy Moorehouse. Subs: