University College Dublin 0 Bray Wanderers 0
Belfield Bowl, First Division, 9 April 2021
A draw was a fair result for two teams who enjoyed plenty of good build up play but lacked the finishing touches near goal.
Bray made two changes to the starting eleven from the team that drew with Shelbourne last week. Conor Clifford missed out through injury while Gary Shaw dropped to the bench. Luka Lovic and Steven Kinsella both started in midfield. UCD were unchanged from the team that defeated Cobh 4-0 the previous week.
Ryan Graydon fired wide from long range after eight minutes. Brandon Kavanagh was next to try his luck with a shot from outside the area which took a slight deflection before been saved easily by Healy. Liam Kerrigan forced Maher into a save on 21 minutes and the same player was denied a shot on goal by a last-ditch tackle by Andrew Quinn a minute later.
Colm Whelan had the ball in the Bray net on 24 minutes, but his effort was ruled out by a linesman’s flag. Sean Brennan volleyed wide from a corner on the left on 36 minutes.
Brandon Kavanagh curled an effort inches wide on 51 minutes. Kavanagh played a pass to Joe Doyle on the edge of the area but his chip over Healy went narrowly wide of the post on 66 minutes. A long kick out from Maher was latched onto by Doyle and Healy had to come off his line to block Doyle’s shot. The loose ball fell to Ryan Graydon, but he was denied a shot by a last ditch UCD tackle.
Kerrigan fired over for CCD with a quarter of an hour remaining. Maher saved again from a Kerrigan shot six minutes from time.
U.C.D. 1 Lorcan Healy; 14 Eoin Farrell, 25 Evan Weir, 5 Luke Boore, 22 Sam Todd, 6 Jack Keaney, 27 Sean Brennan, 8 Mark Dignam. 21 Paul Doyle, 10 Colm Whelan, 7 Liam Kerrigan.
Substitutes: 17 Dara Keane (for Dignam, 75), 12 Adam Lennon (for Kerrigan, 88), 16 Carl Williams (Gk), 2 Michael Gallagher, 9 Danu Kinsella Bishop, 24 Harvey O’Brien, 11 Ciaran Behan, 12 Adam Verdon, 18 Donal Higgins.
Booked: None
Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Maher; 8 Mark Byrne, 3 Dylan Barnett, 4 Andrew Quinn, 5 Aaron Barry; 14 Richard O’Farrell, 7 Ryan Graydon, 16 Darren Craven, 11 Brandon Kavanagh; 17 Luka Lovic, 22 Steven Kinsella.
Substitutes; 25 Kian Clarke (Gk), 9 Joe Doyle (for Lovic, 54), 10 Gary Shaw, 12 Dean O’Shea, 18 Sean Callan, 20 Charlie Gallagher, 23 Glen Hollywood, 24 Cian Maher, 30 Jack Ross (Gk)
Booked: Kinsella (39), Graydon (60), Barnett (68), Byrne (88)
Match Report: Michael Duffy
Pictures: Peter Minogue
