Cabinteely 0 Bray Wanderers 3 (Joe Doyle 29, Sam Verdon 61, Brandon Kavanagh 86)
Stradbrook, First Division, 30 July 2021
Wanderers recovered from their Cup disappointment with a comfortable victory over Cabinteely at Stradbrook.
Bray dominated the opening half hour, culminating in a well-taken goal by Joe Doyle. Following close work in front of Michael Quinn’s goal, Brandon Kavanagh found the Bray No. 9 in just enough space to shoot home.
That reverse sparked a revival in the home side’s attacking efforts, which rarely however made it into scoring range, with Daniel Jones effective in the suspended Aaron Barry’s usual position, and Conor Clifford returning to strengthen the Seagulls’ midfield.
A brief flurry of attacks by Cabinteely on the restart was effectively ended just after the hour when Brian Maher rushed out of his area to clear with a long ball that ended in the award of a corner to Bray.
Kavanagh took the flag-kick, which ultimately found Sam Verdon in position to beat Quinn for Bray’s second.
And with less than five minutes left, Kavanagh himself got in the act, latching onto a cross and giving the home keeper no chance.
In time added former Bray man Kieran Marty Waters, on as a substitute from early in the second half, came close to gaining a consolation for his club, but shot behind: he had earlier headed over, and was unlucky a little later to over-step the ball when clear in front of Maher’s goal.
Cabinteely: 45 Michael Quinn; 5 Andy O’Brien, 37 Luke O’Connor, 33 Mitchell Byrne, 4 Jack Hudson; 7 Keith Dalton (c), 15 Eoin Massey, 16 Vilius Labutis, 6 Alex Aspil, 12 Niall Barnes; 34 Ben Feeney
Substitutes: 25 Harry Halwax (gk), 10 Kieran Marty Waters (for Barnes, 55), 14 Jack Watson (for Aspil, 69), 18 Conor Knight (for Dalton, 84), 19 Luke McWilliams, 20 Eoin McPhilips (for Massey, 69), 26 Jordan Payne (for Labutis, 55), 27 Jack O’Reilly, 29 Jem Campion
Booked: Eoin Massey (43), Mitchell Byrne (65), Jordan Payne (81)
Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Maher; 8 Mark Byrne, 4 Andrew Quinn, 15 Daniel Jones, 3 Dylan Barnett; 11 Brandon Kavanagh, 6 Conor Clifford (c), 14 Richie O’Farrell, 28 Sam Verdon, 16 Darren Craven; 9 Joe Doyle
Substitutes: 25 Kian Clarke (gk), 30 Jack Ross (gk), 10 Gary Shaw (for Verdon, 80), 18 Sean Callan, 22 Steven Kinsella (for Kavanagh, 87), 27 Callum Thompson (for Craven, 67)
Booked: Mark Byrne (38)
Referee: Mark Moynihan
Match Report: Mícheál Ó hUanacháin
