Kenna soars to overcome plucky Harps
BRAY WANDERERS 1 FINN HARPS 0
CONOR Kenna guided Bray Wanderers to three points and a new club record as the Seagulls glory march continued apace on Saturday evening.
The Seagulls skipper powered home a winning header in the 32nd minute and formed part of a brick wall alongside Tim Clancy as the Co. Wicklow club’s star shone ever brighter.
Victory over Finn Harps marked five matches unbeaten for the Harry Kenny’s charges and a fifth consecutive clean sheet in the league – a new club record.
Kenny awarded John Sullivan, Clancy and Kevin Lynch their home debuts and all three impressed.
It may have been his home bow and indeed his first ever start in the League of Ireland but Lynch displayed no nerves with a plethora of wicked crosses throughout. A tame early effort was nodded away and met sweetly on a first-time volley by John Sullivan with the ball kissing the roof of the net as it dropped dangerously.
Sitting in front of Lynch was Dylan Connolly. ‘Sitting’ is perhaps the wrong word to use as the speed-demon is rarely still and after eight minutes he seared in behind Harps’ defence to collect Ryan Brennan’s silky through-ball. Connolly’s cross was so menacing that all Harps defenders declined to touch it and were extremely grateful to see no Bray player was on hand to tap in.
A delicious pass sent Connolly clear again within three minutes although this time he bombed through the middle. A heavy touch brought him closer to the goalkeeper than he would have liked and resulted in him steering the ball beyond the post.
Lynch showed off his left foot’s capabilities again on 12 minutes with another filthy cross. Noone, on his full debut for the club, mishit it and it fell to Lewis. His snap-shot was fortuitously saved by Richard Brush who managed to fall onto the ball.
Sheer perseverance from Hugh Douglas almost produced an unlikely goal. Tim Clancy tossed a free kick forwards and Douglas entered two separate challenges that were 40-60 against him. On both occasions, he emerged with the ball but his cross-cum-shot was gathered at the second attempt by Brush.
An opener for the hosts seemed inevitable and thus it proved as captain Kenna headed his side into the lead. Karl Moore delivered the flag kick from the right flank and Kenna timed his leap well to plant a header to the net.
Ollie Horgan tried to breathe life into his lethargic players by switching formations at the break. Veteran striker Kevin McHugh was replaced by Ruairi Keating and Harps dropped to a 4-5-1 as they attempted to get a foothold in the tie.
Keating should have made a telling contribution on 63 minutes. Bray had not yet properly cleared Adam Hanlon’s free kick and it was swung out to the right to Packie Mailey. He crossed to the near post where Keating met it but his attempt to sweep it home saw the ball clear the crossbar by a matter of inches when he should have bulged the net.
Two further substitutions followed for the visitors as they attempted to fight their way back into it or go down swinging.
One of the three ex-Bray men in the Harps starting line-up – Adam Hanlon – saw his intended cross for Keating completely missed but Raymond Foy almost profited as his firm strike from the edge of the area whistled over.The most exciting moment for the travelling fans arrived in the 79th minute as Cherrie was too slow to deal with Tim Clancy’s back-pass, allowing Keating to charge him down but the Scot recovered and almost landed the ball on Bray beach with his second attempt.
That was Cherrie’s only moment in the spotlight on the evening. He was reduced to a spectator’s role and only had one routine save to make from Hanlon in the first half but he will now go down in Bray Wanderers record books for keeping five clean sheets in a row in the league.
He’ll be hoping to make it number six when Wanderers host Shamrock Rovers on July 29. BRAY WANDERERS: 1. Peter Cherrie; 2. Hugh Douglas, 27. Tim Clancy, 4. Conor Kenna, 19. Kevin Lynch; 3. John Sullivan; 10. Karl Moore, 22. Darragh Noone, 7. Ryan Brennan, 16. Dylan Connolly; 18. Andrew Lewis. SUBS: Gareth McDonagh for Moore (74); Ger Pender for Noone (89). Not used: Lee Steacy, Alan McNally, Paul Finnegan, Sean Harding, Jason Marks. FINN HARPS: 73. Richard Brush; 2. Damien McNulty, 5. Packie Mailey, 4. Keith Cowan; 22. Ethan Boyle, 18. Adam Hanlon, 39. Barry Molloy, 16. Sean Houston, 19. Josh Mailey; 20. David Scully, 10. Kevin McHugh. SUBS: Ruairi Keating for McHugh (H/T); Raymond Foy for Scully (63); Mickey Funston for McNulty (63). Not used: Liam Flatley, Ciaran Gallagher, Ryan Curran, Thomas McMonagle. REFEREE: Robert Hennessy. VENUE: Carlisle Grounds, Bray.