Bray Wanderers 2 Cobh Ramblers 1
Carlisle Grounds, First Division, 2 July 2021
Wanderers came from behind to defeat Cobh Ramblers with on form striker Joe Doyle netting both goals.
Bray made one change to the starting team from that drew with Athlone last week. Richie O’Farrell started in place of the suspended Ryan Graydon.
The home side should have taken the lead in the second minute. Dylan Barnett got to the bye line on the left and pulled the ball back to Brandon Kavanagh who blazed over the bar from inside the box.
Midway through the half Kavanagh played in Doyle on the right but the striker fired into the side netting. Cobh had a chance just past the half hour when Killian Cooper got in on the right, but he fired wide when well placed. A minute later, the visitors took the lead when Ian Turner headed home from a cross on the left.
Wanderers equalised a minute before the break. O’Farrell found Barnett on the left wing and his pull back found Doyle who prodded the ball past Barron.
On the hour mark, Joe Doyle turned smartly on the edge of the box and fired low past Barron for his fifth goal in six games. A minute later, Stephen O’Leary’s shot forced Maher into a save.
Two minutes from time, Barron made a double save, saving firstly from Craven and then the follow up from Kavanagh. In the final minute Maher saved from a Darren Murphy free kick. Doyle was inches away from completing his hat trick in added on time when he shot across the goal after cutting in from the left.
Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Maher; 8 Mark Byrne, 3 Dylan Barnett, 4 Andrew Quinn, 5 Aaron Barry; 6 Conor Clifford, 17 Luka Lovic,14 Richie O’Farrell, 11 Brandon Kavanagh; 9 Joe Doyle, 16 Darren Craven.
Substitutes; 25 Kian Clarke (Gk), 10 Gary Shaw, 12 Dean O’Shea, 15 Daniel Jones, 18 Sean Callan, 22 Steven Kinsella, 23 Glen Hollywood, 24 Cian Maher
Booked: O’Farrell (38), Lovic (72), Clifford (86), Doyle (89)
Cobh Ramblers: 1 Sean Barron; 8 Pierce Phillips, 6 Charlie Lyons, 5 Ben O’Riordan, 17 Cian Murphy; 9 Killian Cooper, 14 Stephen O’Leary, 4 Lee Devitt, 16 Darren Murphy; 7 Ian Turner, 10 Jake Hegarty
Subs: 3 Darryl Walsh (for C. Murphy 63), 12 Naythan Coleman, 18 Nathan O’Connell, 20 Danny O’Connell (for Turner 70), 22 Corey Chambers (gk), 23 Ciaran Griffin (for Hegarty 63), 24 Christopher O’Reilly (for Cooper 85), 26 Fionn Duggan
Booked: Griffin (69), C. Murphy (72)
Referee: Mark Moynihan
Match Report: Michael Duffy
Photos: Peter Minogue
