- Simon O'Gorman
- Fri, Jun 27 2014
Two goals from Christy Fagan helped St Pats to a thrilling win over a determined Bray Wanderers at Richmond Park on Friday night despite a brace from Jake Kelly that threatened to upset the Inchicore apple cart right up until the final whistle.
Bray started the game reasonably well, operating with three central defenders and two wing-backs in the form of Adam Hanlon and Shane O’Neill. But for all their effort they failed to make anything stick up front. Ismahil Akinade looked sluggish while Jake Kelly couldn’t quite find his rhythm.
Pats duly showed them how it should be done when Chris Forrester tucked Conan Byrne’s cross in at the near post after 14 minutes. The opportunity arose from a fine cross-field ball by James Chambers but Bray might have been accused of not heeding early warnings that Byrne was in the mood to make hay down Pats right flank.
Fagan had an effort ruled out for off-side after just four minutes, the chance also coming from Byrne’s efforts on the wing, and Byrne himself almost doubled the Saints’ lead just after the half hour mark when he let fly from distance and forced an excellent save from Stephen McGuinness in the visitor’s goal.
With half-time approaching Pats looked comfortable but, against the run of play, Bray hit back with a shock equaliser. David Cassidy played a ball into space at the near post and Jake Kelly beat Brendan Clarke to it before slipping an innocuous shot under the keeper and over the line.
If Bray thought they were on their way to a shock upset they were soon set straight by a St Pats side that started the second half at a terrific pace. It took just eight minutes for the home team to make their pressure count and it was Chambers who created it, delivering a perfectly judged cross for Christy Fagan to head powerfully home.
Fagan added a third on 73 minutes after a twenty minute period of relentless attacking play. Substitute Mark Quigley provided a pass in to the feet of Chambers and his delicate flick found the run of Fagan whose finish from inside the box was clinical.
The result seemed in no doubt as the game entered its final fifteen minutes but just as the first half had ended with a surprise contribution from Jake Kelly so too was the tail end of this game transformed by the Bray front man.
With 77 minutes on the clock Kelly lifted a free kick expertly over the Pats wall and into the top right corner of Brendan Clarke’s goal, prompting a frantic finale in which Bray threw everything at their hosts.
Pats were reduced to some fairly desperate defending as the ball pinged about in the vicinity of the home area, but ultimately the efforts of Alan Mathews’ side were in vain and Pats held out for three points that they had to sweat over rather more than they might have liked.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Conor McCormack, Ger O’Brien, Derek Foran, Ian Bermingham; James Chambers, Greg Bolger, Killian Brennan (Keith Fahey 72); Conan Byrne, Christy Fagan (Lee Lynch 86), Chris Forrester (Mark Quigley 69).
Subs not used: Rene Gilmartin (gk), Lorcan Fitzgerald, Daryl Kavanagh, Sam Verdon.
Booked: None.
Bray Wanderers: Stephen McGuinness; Eric McGill, Shane O’Connor, Robert Maloney; Adam Hanlon, David Cassidy, Graham Kelly, Shane O’Neill (Dave Scully 60); Dean Zambra; Jake Kelly, Ismahil Akinade.
Subs not used: Gavin Sheridan (gk), Adam Mitchell, Niall Cooney, Ciaran Byrne, Sean Hurley, Michael Brown.
Booked: Cassidy (39).
Referee: Anthony Buttimer.
Attendance: 780
Extratime Man of the Match: James Chambers (St Patrick’s Ath).
