O’Farrell strike earns Wanderers a point in Tolka

Shelbourne 1 (Brennan 44)

Bray Wanderers 1 (O’Farrell 68)

Tolka Park, First Division, 20 August 2021

 

Callum Thompson in control

Bray Wanderers extended their unbeaten league run to nine games when they came from behind to earn a deserved draw with league leaders Shelbourne.

Wanderers made one change to the team that defeated Treaty United last week. Captain, Aaron Barry returned in place of Mark Byrne. Andrew Quinn moved to right full back with Barry lining up beside Dan Jones in the centre back positions.

Michael O’Connor should have opened the scoring in the second minute, but he headed wide from close range from Brennan’s cross from the right.  Darren Craven turned in from the left and fired just wide for Wanderers on 13 minutes. A minute later, Craven set up Callum Thompson, but he fired over.

George Poyton fired a free kick just wide on 22 minutes. Just past the half hour, Brian Maher was forced into saving a header from O’Connor. O’Connor went close again on 39 minutes with another header from Dayle Rooney’s cross. Brandon Kavanagh then went close for Wanderers after cutting in from the right and shooting narrowly wide.

A minute before the break, Rooney got in on the left and crossed to Ryan Brennan who controlled the ball just inside the area and shot low past Maher to open the scoring.

Richie O’Farrell fires home the equaliser

Wanderers started the second half well. Conor Clifford failed to connect properly with a loose ball in the area and his shot was blocked. Wanderers drew level on 68 minutes with a well worked goal. Richie O’Farrell played a one-two with Brandon Kavanagh on the right of the area and fired a low shot across Clarke into the corner of the net.

 Shelbourne: 1 Brendan Clarke; 16 John Ross Wilson, 23 Luke Byrne, 4 Ally Gilchrist, 32 Kameron Ledwidge; 17 Shane Farrell, 18 Dayle Rooney, 26 George Poynton, 14 Brian McManus; 10 Ryan Brennan; 9 Michael O’Connor
Subs: 2 Michael Barker, 3 Kevin O’Connor (for Ledwidge 75), 5 Yassine En-Neyah (for Brennan 75), 7 Eric Molloy, 19 Gavin Molloy, 11 Yousef Mahdy, 15 Maxim Kouogun, 25 Jack Brady (gk), 30 Alex Nolan
Booked: Farrell (73)

Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Maher; 4 Andrew Quinn, 5 Aaron Barry, 15 Daniel Jones, 4 Andrew Quinn, 3 Dylan Barnett; 6 Conor Clifford; 14 Richie O’Farrell, 11 Brandon Kavanagh, 27 Callum Thompson, 16 Darren Craven; 9 Joe Doyle
Subs: 7 Ryan Graydon (for Thompson, 69), 10 Gary Shaw (for Doyle, 83), 17 Luka Lovic, 22 Steven Kinsella (for Kavanagh, 86), 25 Kian Clarke (gk), 28 Sam Verdon.

Ryan Brennan fires a free kick into the Wanderers wall

Booked: O’Farrell (21), Clifford (57), Barnett (80)

Referee: Mark Moynihan

Match Report: Michael Duffy

Ryan Graydon battles for possession