Credit:
Sporting Fingal 2 - 2 Bray Wanderers
- Niall Farrell
- Mon, Sep 13 2010
Bray Wanderers and Sporting Fingal finished honours even at 2-2 in Morton Stadium on Monday night.
Fingal took the lead through Alan Kirby, but a brace from Jake Kelly put Bray ahead. Ex-Bray forward Eamon Zayed got the equaliser for Sporting after nearly an hour of play.
Sporting Fingal began with a lovely series of passes, not allowing their opponents any time on the ball. On three minutes, Alan Kirby struck for the Ravens.
Ronan Finn passed for Eamon Zayed in the Bray box, Zayed let the ball run through his legs and Kirby only had to slide the ball past Matt Gregg.
Jake Kelly equalised for Bray on 21 minutes with a superb bit of skill. He chested the ball down and controlled it before shooting low at goal. The ball somehow went under the diving Darren Quigley and trickled over the line.
Bray took a deserved lead eleven minutes later, largely thanks to some slack Fingal defending. From a throw-in, Gary Dempsey got the ball and shot but the Fingal defence couldn't deal with it.
The ball bobbled loose in the penalty area, Jake Kelly wheeled on it and smashed the ball past Quigley to make it 2-1. Bray controlled possession for the remainder of the half to go in a goal to the good.
Substitute John Mulroy almost had an instant impact a minute after half time, chipping the ball over the Sporting defence for Gary Shaw. Shaw, all alone on Quigley, saw his shot just deflected away for a corner.
Fingal put pressure on Bray and made the breakthrough just before the hour mark. After a long kick, Conan Byrne latched on to the ball and chipped deftly over Matt Gregg. His shot came back off the upright and Eamon Zayed tapped in.
Gary O'Neill had a chance on seventy-three minutes when he broke free, but his shot was straight at Gregg.
Bray held on until full time in spite of successive Fingal attacks, and had a few half-chances of their own. It ended 2-2 after a cracking contest in a rain-soaked Morton Stadium.
Sporting Fingal: Darren Quigley, Kevin Dawson, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Shaun Williams, Colin Hawkins, Kenny Browne, Conan Byrne [Ollie Cahill '84], Ronan Finn [Keith Quinn '90], Gary O’Neill, Alan Kirby, Eamon Zayed [Glen Crowe '86] Subs: Brendan Clarke, John Frost, Ollie Cahill, Keith Quinn
Bray Wanderers: Matt Gregg, David Webster, Sean Houston, Shane O’Connor, Derek Prendergast, Gary Dempsey, Dean Zambra
Danny O’Connor [John Mulroy HT], Gary Shaw, Chris Shields, Jake Kelly [Dane Massey '79]
Subs: Brian Kane, Daire Doyle, Adam Mitchell
Referee: Damien Hancock
Attendance: 389
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Jake Kelly
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net.
