FAI Cup Report: Bray Wanderers 0-1 Shelbourne

Shelbourne boss Damien Duff

Damien Duff Credit: Martin Doherty (ETPhotos)

Tommy Healy reports from the Carlisle Grounds.

Sean Boyd’s first half strike was enough for Shelbourne to advance to the third round of the FAI Cup as they ran out 0-1 winners over Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds on Sunday.

Kick-off for this tie was delayed by 15 minutes to allow for fans to enter the ground.

The game started lively right from kick-off, as Bray defender Paul Murphy brought down Matthew Smith with a nasty tackle and received an early yellow card.

Ali Coote and the aforementioned Smith were causing the hosts the most trouble, winning free kicks around the box.

It was not long after this that John O’Sullivan linked up with debutant Rayhaan Tulloch whose perfectly timed pass found Sean Boyd in behind to give the Premier Division leaders the advantage.

Within five minutes of scoring, Boyd could have had a hattrick, a deflection from an Ali Coote cross fell at his feet but was blocked by Killian Cantwell. The next was a header from a Matthew Smith cross that just flashed wide of the post.

Bray had glimpses of attacking football, Callum Thompson skipping past Kameron Ledwidge to win a corner, and Harry Groome’s shot on target safely into the hands of Lorcan Healy.

The second half started with the same liveliness as the first, when Harry Wood found the back of the net but was in an offside position.

Ali Coote made a dart towards the box and went to ground but no penalty was awarded despite the protests of the travelling Shelbourne fans.



Shels head coach Damien Duff made 3 changes around the hour mark, bringing on some important players such as Mark Coyle and Will Jarvis.

A corner found the head of Ben Feeney, but his header went just over  Lorcan Healy’s bar, and at the other end substitute John Martin narrowly missed from the edge of the box.

The Seagulls were piling the pressure on in the last ten minutes. A corner swung into the box bobbled around and eventually found comfort in the hands of the Shels keeper.

Right back Max Murphy saw a shot fizz across the box in the 90th minute, and with the last attack of the game saw a shot on target spilled by Healy but he saved the rebound from Bray substitute Cole Omorehiomwan to seal Shels’ 1-0 victory.

Bray Wanderers: Jimmy Corcoran; Killian Cantwell, Kieran Cruise (Cole Omorehiomwan 90), Paul Murphy, Max Murphy, Zach Nolan; Guillermo Almirall Peñalver, Darren Craven (Zayd Abada 90), Harry Groome, Callum Thompson (Peter Grogan 83); Ben Feeney.

Subs not used: Ben Clark, Conor Knight, Josh McGlone, Thomas Morgan, Shane Griffin, Billy O'Neill.



Booked: Paul Murphy (1), Darren Craven (67), Guillermo Almirall Peñalver (79).

Shelbourne: Lorcan Healy; Sam Bone, Shane Griffin, Kameron Ledwidge, John O'Sullivan; Evan Caffrey, Alistair Coote (William Jarvis 65), Harry Wood (John Martin 74); Sean Boyd, Matthew Smith (Jonathan Lunney 59), Rayhaan Tulloch (Mark Coyle 65).

Subs not used: Conor Kearns, Patrick Barrett, Sean Gannon, Tyreke Wilson, Liam Burt.

Booked: John O'Sullivan (90).

Referee: Paul Norton.

Attendance: 2,339

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