Poor fare as Pat’s scatter Seagulls
BRAY WANDERERS 1 ST PATRICK’S 2
HOME may be where the heart is but there wasn’t a great deal of heart shown on Friday evening by Bray Wanderers as they let St. Patrick’s Athletic leave the Carlisle Grounds with all three points.
Sure, the Seagulls halted potential embarassment early on. Dave Mackey’s side were 0-2 down within 14 minutes but pulled a goal back through captain Gary McCabe in the 20th minute.
Ronan Coughlan also had an effort cleared off the line at the end of the first half but the hosts never looked in any state of urgency in the second period with a point - or maybe more - up for grabs.
Having held Dundalk to a 0-0 draw, Mackey named the same starting XI again but there was no shutout this time aroud.
Bray fans enjoyed an entire 70 seconds of action before seeing their beloved side fall behind for the first time this season. Conan Byrne picked up Owen Garvan’s free from the right and it appeared that the attacker was trying to dig out a cross but his chipped effort sailed over the head of Aaron Dillon and looped into the far corner.
The home faithful would be forgiven for thinking they were suffering from deja vu - they Wanderers trailed 0-3 after 10 minutes against the same opposition two weeks ago.
It didn’t quite sink to those levels but Pat’s did have a second in the bag by the 14th minute. Dean Clarke danced along the left flank and waltzed into the penalty area before squaring for Christy Fagan and the lethal marksman did what he does best to make it 0-2.
Pat’s were threatening to be out of sight until Aaron Greene stepped in to drag his side back into contention. His lightning quick feet served him well in the penalty area and he lead the away defence on a merry dance before putting it on a plate for McCabe to smash home.
He may have shipped two early goals but Dillon’s confidence didn’t appear to be knocked as he took a touch despite the presence of Dean Clarke bearing down on him. Clarke got there and got a block in but it squirmed out for a throw.
Liam Buckley’s men would earn a corner from that resulting throw and how they didn’t punish Bray remains a mystery. Garvan’s back-post delivery found Desmond free and he prodded it goalwards. Dillon closed his legs in the nick of time to block it and Fagan’s follow-up was also charged down before Wanderers somehow scrambled to safety.
Graham Kelly spurned the next chance as his late run was spotted by Conan Byrne but Kelly’s glanced header wasn’t enough to divert the cross in as it dropped narrowly wide.
Kelly would turn provider next. Desmond swept a delightful ball forward for Kelly who had got beyond the Bray defence.
The angle wasn’t very inviting though so he held it up and fed Fagan who made room for the snapshot. Dillon parried the inital strike but pounced on the rebound before Barry Murphy could.
It could have been level on the stroke of the interval. Kevin Lynch’s deep cross was nodded out to Ronan Coughlan and his vicious strike looked to have beaten Murphy but Desmond blocked it from six yards out.
The second period struggled to live up to its predecessor. A dangerous Kevin Lynch cross - which begged to be converted - was as close as Bray came to a leveller, while Conan Byrne had two decent opportunities to kill off the tie but couldn’t take them.
Bray Wanderers: 1. Aaron Dillon;
16. Dan McKenna, 2. Hugh Douglas, 5. Sean Heaney, 3. Kevin Lynch; 8. John O’Sullivan, 6. Paul O’Conor; 19. Ronan Coughlan, 21. Gary McCabe, 7. Cory
Galvin; 10. Aaron Greene. Subs: Jake Kelly for Galvin (62); Daniel Kelly for O’Conor (76). Not used: Evan Moran, Calvin Rogers, Rhys Gorman, Darragh Noone, Ger Pender.
St. Patrick’s Athletic: 1. Barry Murphy; 17. Simon Madden, 4. Kevin Toner, 5. Lee Desmond, 3. Ian Bermigham;
11. Ryan Brennan, 6. Owen Garvan;
7. Conan Byrne, 8. Graham Kelly, 18. Dean Clarke; 9. Christy Fagan. Subs: Jake Keegan for Fagan (51). Not used: Brian Maher, James Doona, Darragh Markey, Jamie Lennon, Ian Turner, Michael Barker.
Referee: Graham Kelly