INTERVIEW: “I didn’t think my first goal would be a header!” says O’Farrell after Friday’s win

There’s been much talk in recent weeks of Edinson Cavani’s ability to pull off a diving header but even the celebrated Manchester United man could have learned a thing or two if he’d been watching LOITV on Friday night.

If he had, the Uruguayan would have learned that having long, flowing locks isn’t the only thing he has in common with Bray Wanderers midfielder Richie O’Farrell. The 20-year-old scored his first goal for The Seagulls on Friday night, swooping low to get his head on the end of a Dylan Barnett cross from the left, for what was the second goal of a 3-0 win over Cabinteely.

Having signed from Drogheda United in January, O’Farrell was very happy to break his Wanderers duck, telling James Fenton afterwards that “it was good to get off the mark.” He added “I’d been scoring in training so it was good to finally do it in a match but I didn’t think it would be a header!”

The victory was the second in succession for The Seagulls, after an away win over Galway United last week and O’Farrell feels that the wheels are starting to turn after a slow start to the campaign. “It was a good win and we can kick on now,” he said. “It gives us something to build on after last week and a bit of confidence.”

Reflecting back on Gary Shaw’s last gasp winner in Galway, Richie said that “it was huge because I don’t think we’ve been getting that bit of luck or those drops of a ball. This week though, I think we got what we deserved against Cabinteely. We won it in the first half really, knocked it around well and did the business. In the second half, we were solid apart from a few spells.

Having scored his first goal at the Carlisle, Richie will have to wait until June 11 to do it again, when Shelbourne come to town. In the meantime, the team will be looking to keep this momentum going with back-to-back away games against Wexford and Treaty United. “We’re just looking to the next one and take it game by game and we can’t look too far ahead,” he said. “It’s still early days so we’ll try and build on what we’ve done.”

O’Farrell’s header on Friday was sandwiched by strikes from Barnett and Shaw and you can view all three goals of the victory over Cabinteely in the highlights video below…