Bray Wanderers 1 St. Patrick’s Athletic 2
Carlisle Grounds, Premier Division, 23 February 2018
Wanderers found themselves behind after just two minutes. Conan Byrne’s cross from the right sailed over the head of Aaron Dillon and into the far corner of the net. Pat’s were two up by the 14th minute. Dean Clarke broke clear down the left flank and crossed to Christy Fagan who scored from close range.
Wanderers responded well to the early setbacks and pulled a goal back on 20 minutes. Aaron Greene did well on the left side of the penalty area and squared for Gary McCabe who duly fired past Murphy.
Wanderers defenders blocked efforts from Desmond and Fagan in succession following a St. Pats corner. Ex-Wanderer Graham Kelly headed wide from a Byrne cross. Kelly then set up Fagan whose snapshot was parried by Dillon.
On the stroke of half time, Ronan Coughlan’s goal bound strike was blocked by Desmond.
The second half produced little in terms of goal shots and Wanderers never really threatened Murphy’s goal in search of the equaliser.
Bray Wanderers: Aaron Dillon, Dan McKenna, Hugh Douglas, Sean Heaney, Kevin Lynch, Ronan Coughlan, Paul O’Conor, John Sullivan, Cory Galvin, Aaron Greene, Gary McCabe. Subs: Jake Kelly (for Galvin 62), Daniel Kelly (for O’Conor 75), Darragh Noone, Calvin Rogers, Rhys Gorman, Ger Pender, Evan Moran (GK).
St Patricks Athletic: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Kevin Toner, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham; Graham Kelly, Owen Garvan, Ryan Brennan; Conan Byrne, Christopher Fagan, Dean Clarke Subs: Michael Barker, James Doona, Ian Turner, Darragh Markey, Brian Maher (gk), Jamie Lennon, Jake Keegan (for Fagan 51).
Referee: Graham Kelly
Attendance: 1,124
Match Report: Michael Duffy
