Bray power home
Carley’s men produce stunning second-half showing
DEFENDING champions Bray Emmets powered through a bruising but entertaining encounter with St Patrick’s thanks to a very impressive second-half display that saw them harvest 1-15 and secure a place in the final against Carnew Emmets.
Ray Nolan’s men produced a commendable showing in the first half with the wind at their backs, taking a one-point lead into the break but, worryingly from their point of view, failing to seriously trouble Jim Doyle in the Bray goal apart from an Andy O’Brien free late in the half.
With Bray Emmets possessing such formidable firepower in their attack and with Pádraig Doyle and Luke Maloney foraging relentlessly around the middle, the writing was on the wall from early in the second half that this was not going to end well for the Wicklow town side.
Pat’s started with Niall Hanton coming in for Conor Daly who had been named at 15. Hanton would have a fine first half, bagging two excellent scores and putting himself about very well.
But signs that Paul Carley’s men were in decent form could be seen from early on. Christy Moorehouse pointed the opening score from a free for a foul on the hardworking Diarmuid Masterson, who is likely to have had a sore body on Monday morning following his brave and willing showing, and then Moorehouse collected a sweet Daire Henderson ball along the sideline before slotting sweetly between the sticks at the Rednagh Hill end. Andy O’Brien had escaped the attentions of Karl Lacey in between those two scores to hoist over the opener for Pat’s and we were off to a healthy start.
Pat’s hit back superbly during what was without a doubt their best spell. Niall Hanton won dirty ball before flicking over between John Henderson and Pádraig Doyle before Andy O’Brien pointed a free for a handling error on the Bray side in a ruck.
A poor Bray ball at one end became a Pat’s point at the other when George ‘Bee’ O’Brien scavenged superbly and fired over.
Jim O’Brien played a nice onetwo with ‘Dee’ O’Brien before walloping over a beast from the sideline and all of a sudden Pat’s were 0-5 to 0-2 ahead and looking like they were going to cause Bray serious problems.
That potential looked even more likely when Christy Moorehouse recorded two wides (one free, one 65) but Jim O’Brien was wayward
from a free after a frontal charge on ‘Bonner’ O’Brien by Luke Maloney and the chance for a four-point lead was gone.
Bray lifted their game. Pádraig Doyle whipped over a sideline with 15 on the clock and Ben McCormack fired wide when he had Diarmuid Masterson running off his shoulder with only Eoghan O’Mahony to beat. Still, the chance was created, the gaps were there.
Paul Carley’s men found the water break to their liking because they were level at 0-5 apiece in as little as three minutes through points by Davy Maloney and Marc Lennon but it was the lead up to the next score, a point from Christy Moorehouse, that showed why this Bray side were not going to be denied a spot in the final and a chance to defend their crown.
It started with Pádraig Doyle intercepting a Pat’s puck out. John Henderson was on hand to mop up and he fed the roaming Michael Boland out on the stand side. Boland sought out Christy Moorehouse with a lovely ball and the Bray star was out in front of Gerry Connors and his first touch was magical and allowed him time and space to find Marc Lennon with a deft pass but the Bray captain’s shot was saved easily by Eoghan O’Mahony and cleared.
Now, the next phase was very illuminating. The ball broke around the middle and Luke Maloney threw his body on the line to gain possession. The ball spilled to Andy O’Brien who had been redeployed from full forward with ‘Bonner’ O’Brien going in. O’Brien lobbed in a dangerous ball but Karl Lacey used his defensive experience to thwart ‘Bonner’ and his weak effort was gathered by Jim Doyle. Doyle picked out Daire Lohan. His ball was loose but Davy Maloney showed the tiger that he
is by shouldering Dale Quinn out of his way and finding Mikey Boland with a handpass. Boland looks up, directs a missile-like pass out to the wing for Christy who casually strokes over a dreamy score to give them the lead after 20 minutes.
The point of that play by play description is that this Bray team were utterly up for the fight on the day. They showed no fear at any stage, they took what Pat’s had to throw at them and they struck back mercilessly with a flair that no team has come anywhere close to matching in this championship. On their day they operate on a different level. Simple as that.
Fine play by Robert Moffett allowed Niall Hanton the chance to fire over and Pat’s led again when Andy pointed a 65.
Christy Moorehouse leveled from a free but George ‘Bee’ O’Brien had the last say of the half with a wicked score to send Pat’s in with a one-point lead but with it all to do against the wind.
Bray bagged four points in the opening five minutes of the second half. Pádraig Doyle, Marc Lennon, Mikey Boland and Luke Maloney all dissecting the posts with an Andy free the only Pat’s reply in the middle and suddenly it was 0-11 to 0-9 for the defending champions.
Pat’s were now seriously struggling with the pace and energy of the Bray outfit and the score read 0-14 to 0-10 by the 10th minute thanks to a Christy Moorehouse point (free) and two excellent Ben McCormack scores while a Jim O’Brien free kept Pat’s alive and kicking but probably needing goals before the end of this game.
But a goal showed no sign of coming at this stage. By the second water break Pat’s retired to the sideline like a boxer badly in need of the bell and the scoreboard
reading 0-17 to 0-11. A ripper from Pádraig Doyle and two Christy points (one free) answered by a Jim O’Brien free as Pat’s struggled all over the field.
Quality play by Diarmuid Masterson set Christy up for a fine point after the restart. Ray Nolan sent in James Downey while Paul Carley had the immense pleasure and wealth of riches to be able to introduce a hurler of the quality of Eoin McCormack into the fray in place of Luke Maloney. It wouldn’t be long before McCormack repaid that decision when he walloped past Eoghan McCormack for the game’s opening goal to make it 1-19 to 0-11.
Pat’s refused to buckle. An Andy free was answered by a Davy Maloney point for Bray and when Andy fired home past Jim Doyle after 23 you wondered if the seemingly impossible was actually possible.
Andy reduced the gap to seven after 26 and then Bray suffered the loss of full-back Karl Lacey who got involved with Andy after the Pat’s star had shouldered him on his way back to the square having
dropped over the bomb of a point. Referee John Keenan consulted his umpires and flashed a red at Lacey and a yellow at Andy.
Moments later the goose was cooked for Pat’s when Shane Doyle was sent off for an incident out the field.
Mikey Boland and Christy Moorehouse bagged the last two scores of the game and it was mission most definitely and most impressively accomplished for Paul Carley’s men.
Jim Doyle; Peter Kiely, Karl Lacey, Sean Maloney; Daire Lohan, John Henderson, Daire Henderson; Luke Maloney (0-1), Pádraig Doyle (0-3); Diarmuid Masterson, Marc Lennon (0-2), Davy Maloney (0-2); Michael Boland (0-3), Christy Moorehouse (0-9, 4f), Ben McCormack (0-2). Subs: Eoin McCormack (1-0) for L Maloney (46), Shane Lohan, Ciaran McKay for P Kiely (48), Liam Benville for P Doyle (52).
Eoghan O’Mahony; Dale Quinn, Gerry Connors, Robert Moffett; Michael Connors, John Connors, Shane Doyle; Rikki Quinn, Jim O’Brien (0-3, 2f); Christy Moorehouse, James ‘Bonner’ O’Brien, ‘Dee’ O’Brien; George ‘Bee’ O’Brien (0-2), Andy O’Brien (1-6, 3f, 1 65), Niall Hanton (0-2). Subs: James Downey, Mikey Griffith for R Moffett (51).
John Keenan (Aughrim)