Morgan makes his mark
Thomas nets twice as Bray draw with Wayside Celtic
ON a night where it was hard to make any kind of impression, Bray Wanderers’ young striker Thomas Morgan managed to do just that.
The 19-year-old was knocking on the door in the latter stages of 2023, and he may be ready to knock it down in 2024 following two fine goals in the Seagulls’ 2-2 draw with Wayside Celtic on Monday evening.
With the remnants of Storm Isha still battering Jackson Park, Bray took advantage of the wind behind their backs in just the second minute as they hit the front.
Greystones man Callum Thompson delivered a cross from the right which Morgan attempted to meet with a backheel flick.
Although that fancy effort didn’t quite go to plan, the ball did then present itself to him to apply a more straightforward finish.
Wayside’s starting XI and bench was littered with ex-Bray men and two of them combined for the hosts’ leveller. Billy Hendley was scrapping for possession on the edge of the Wanderers area and the ball would squirm loose to Darragh Lynch.
He grabbed hold of the ball and slalomed past three challenges in the Bray area before slamming a finish into the far corner.
There were cheers and comparisons to Luis Suarez from the home support.
Celtic probed again when ex-Bray skipper Dean Zambra fizzed a pass into the feet of Cian Fay 20 yards out.
His first touch saw him smartly get the ball out of his feet but his rising shot became wind-assisted and did not trouble the trialist in the Bray goal as it sailed into the night sky.
A marauding run down the right flank from Hendley saw him cut the ball back to rightback Canty and his whipped cross evaded Kelly by inches who surely who would have bundled home had he made contact.
The home side would take the lead a minute later.
Having seemingly found his range earlier, Fay cracked off another strike from 20 yards and this time – with the aid of a deflection – it ended up in the back of the net.
Bray should have levelled on 38 minutes. Thompson’s pinpoint delivery picked out Trialist 4 at the back post, but he nodded wide.
It was a wonderful opportunity and definitely the kind you would expect a player to put away at this level.
Trialist 4 must have thought he made amends minutes later when he again found space in the box.
This time, his effort was on target but before he could celebrate, he had to watch Wayside goalkeeper D. Mahon pull off a Gordon Banks-esque save as he stopped in mid-air to throw out an arm and claw the effort off the line.
There were not the usual wholesale changes at the break you might come to expect in friendlies – that happened on 61 minutes – but one Wayside sub almost ensured he arrived in style.
Guillermo Almirall played a very sloppy pass straight to Darragh O’Connor. He spotted Trialist 1 off his line and went for the lob and it wasn’t a million miles away from creeping in.
Bray would level with their next attack, and it was a shot from much closer in than O’Connor’s effort.
From the left flank, Almirall whipped in the corner. The wind made it perhaps a more vicious delivery than he had planned but that worked to Morgan’s advantage.
At the near post, the teenager instinctively flicked out a foot to almost no-look guide it into the top corner.
Ian Ryan then made nine changes (he had brought on Max Murphy 12 minutes earlier), leaving Morgan as the only man to complete the 90 minutes for Bray.
Bray will now have three Leinster Senior Cup games – starting away to Evergreen FC in Kilkenny on Friday – and one final pre-season joust with Drogheda United before the real action gets underway with a home clash against UCD at the Carlisle Grounds.