Seagulls off to super start with healthy win
Seagulls profit as Shamrock Rovers pay heavy penalty
SHAMROCK ROVERS BRAY WANDERERS 2 3
THE first glimpse of Gary Cronin’s 2019 squad was a positive one as Shamrock Rovers paid the penalty for some sloppy defending at the Roadstone Sports Club on a chilly Saturday afternoon.
Bray Wanderers took the lead through former Cabinteely man Joe Doyle but efforts from Aaron Greene and Trevor Clarke handed the Hoops a half time lead.
Victory was handed to the Seagulls though as Stephen Bradley’s side coughed up not one, not two, but three second half penalties to Bray; of which they converted two to claim victory.
Cronin fielded four trialists - two started and two came off the bench - and fleshed the squad out with a number of teenagers which suggests there are a few men yet to sign on the dotted line at the Carlisle Grounds ahead of their assault on the First Division.
Frequent low-flying airplanes caught the interest of the modest crowd but - understandably - it was far from a flying start by either side.
Roberto Lopes spurned an opportunity to head the Hoops ahead after eight minutes when he darted towards the near post to meet Dylan Watts’ corner kick but his powerful effort alluded the far post.
Bray hit the front on 22 minutes. Rovers’ half-clearance was picked up by Richie Purdy and he drove forward, slipping it off to Paul Keegan. His pass didn’t find its target but it broke to Doyle 22 yards out and his low, first-time drive skidded beyond the dive of Alan Mannus.
Rovers remained behind for only eight minutes.
The weight on Ronan Finn’s pass for Greene was brilliant and the ex-Seagull took it in his stride. It momentarily looked like he’d taken too much out of the ball but, even with Darragh Gibbons breathing down his neck, the striker drilled it across Gabriel Sava and found the bottom corner.
Sava would be beaten again three minutes before the interval as Trevor Clarke won the ball and wriggled free in the penalty area before unleashing a jet-fuelled strike that screeched into the top corner; leaving Save with no chance.
Cronin rang the changes at the break as he threw on six new faces, one of which was Greystones man Adam Hayden who got his first taste of action as a Seagull between the posts.
A mere 27 seconds had elapsed in the second period when Trialist A tried to meet a bouncing ball on the volley but a wild swipe from a Rovers defender stopped him in his tracks and the referee pointed to the spot.
Richie Purdy took the responsibility but saw his effort superbly saved by Mannus who sprung to his left to turn it away.
Purdy would then ironically earn Bray’s next penalty as Roberto Lopes clumsily collided with him. Doyle was the man entrusted second time around and the frontman made no mistake as he lashed home his second.
Greystones’ Hayden showed brilliant composure on 56 minutes when he had Ronan Finn bearing down on him as a backpass trickled towards him but the shot-stopper nonchalantly threw Finn a feint and chipped it out to his left-back.
Four more men were thrown into action by Cronin - and they were quickly followed by Jake Ellis - as the ‘visitors’ went on to grab victory.
Hayden would be called into more serious action midway through the second period when he got a strong hand to a snapshot from 18 yards to expertly push it away.
Trialist D came close for Bray when Rovers were slack on the ball and they were nearly punished as Mr. D saw his clipped shot tipped over the crossbar by Mannus.
With four minutes left on the clock, Wanderers earned a chance to win it when they won their fourth penalty.
There was a roar from the side- line from Cronin that Philip Gannon - sporting the captain’s armband - was to take it and he did not disappoint as he fired home to warm the dozen or so Bray fans that had journeyed up the M50 to cast their eyes over their new set of Seagull heroes.
Bray will be action again on Friday at FAI HQ in Abbotstown against Harry Kenny’s St. Pats.
1. Alan Mannus;
2. Alex Dunne, 18. Joey O’Brien, 4. Roberto Lopes, 11. Sean Kavanagh; 7. Dylan Watts, 10. Aaron McEneff, 16. Jack Byrne, 20. Trevor Clarke; 8. Ronan Finn;
22. Aaron Greene.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: BRAY WANDERERS:
1. Gabriel Sava; 2. Trialist A, 15. Darragh Gibbons, 5. Sean Heaney, 3. Dylan Barnett; 11. Derek Daly, 26. Paul Keegan, 24. Richie Purdy,
10. Dylan McGlade; 17. Trialist B; 9. Joe Doyle. Subs: Adam Hayden for Sava (H/T); Cian Walsh for Gibbons (H/T); Luke Nolan for Barnett (H/T); Trialist C for D. McGlade (H/T); Cian Maher for Keegan (H/T); Trialist D for Heaney (57); Glen Hollywood for Purdy (57); Jamie Crilly for Trialist B (57); Dragos Mamaliga for Doyle (57); Jake Ellis for Trialist A (69).
VENUE:
Roadstone Sports Club, Clondalkin.