Bray Wanderers 3 - 2 St. Patrick's Athletic

• Conor McKeogh
• Fri, Aug 13 2010


A shock result from Wicklow as bottom of the league Bray Wanderers defeated title contenders St. Patrick’s Athletic 3-2 on a cool night at the Carlisle Grounds. Goals from Shane O’Neill and two from Jake Kelly ensured a home win for struggling Bray- Danny North’s two goals for the visitors were merely consolations as they loosened their grip on the Premier Division trophy.

An early goal from Shane O’Neill after Gary Dempsey’s neat through ball down the middle put Wanderers ahead in the sixth minute Three minutes later Pats equalised- Gareth O’Connor’s far post cross was met by David McAllister whose header was parried by Matt Gregg into the path of Daniel North who coolly slotted home.

After a blistering start between the top and bottom teams in the league, it seemed that this game was well on the way to defining the league table at the end of the season. The first half didn’t hold up however, to such a ferocious first ten minutes.

A lacklustre first half that although had two goals, had little elsewhere. Pats, with the majority of possession, couldn’t capitalise and were forced to play in front of a strong Bray defence, who appeared compact and confident, surely a good sign of things to come for director of football Pat Devlin and his coaching staff.

The second half was completely different to the first. Bray exploded out of the gates and within two minutes Bray had gone one up again. A quick free kick from Shane O’Neill was met in the box by John Mulroy, who shrugged off the Pat’s defence, squared to Jake Kelly and he finished neatly.

If that passage of play didn’t invigorate the home fans, seven minutes later, Kelly’s second, a screamer from 25 yards had the crowd on their feet. Gary Dempsey’s free kick into the box was cleared by Shane Guthrie only to Kelly loitering on edge of the area- his volley into the bottom right of the Pat’s goal had ‘keeper Gary Rogers rooted to his spot.

This was not the restart Pat’s fans expected nor wanted, and it took another ten minutes before they finally realised they had to do something or relinquish their place at the top of the table. Danny North, industrious as ever, was struggling against the big Bray defence. David McAllister was at the centre of most Pat’s attacks, however there seemed a belief amongst the eleven men in red that the match had already been lost.

A 94th minute consolation, North’s second of the evening, did little to uplift the travelling away supporters spirits as they saw their side roundly beaten, fully aware that with a performance like this, a league title would not be on the horizon.

Bray Wanderers: Gregg, O’Connor, Houston, Mitchell (Webster 30’ [Massey ‘84]) ), Prendergast, Dempsey, Doyle, O’Connor, O’Neill, Mulroy, Kelly.
Subs not used: Tresson, Zambra, Massey, Kane

St. Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers, Kenna, Pender, Lynch, Guthrie, McAllister, Mulcahy, Doyle, O’Connor (O’Brien ‘58), North, Faherty (Crawley ‘76).
Subs not used: Byrne, Bermingham, Bennion.

Referee: Neil Doyle

extratime.ie man of the match: Gary Dempsey