- Dave Donnelly
- Sat, Oct 15 2016
Bray Wanderers battled back in the second half at the Carlisle Grounds to earn a 2-1 victory over St Patrick's Athletic and leapfrog the Saints into sixth place.
Jamie McGrath headed Pat's into an early lead but the Seagulls, so sluggish in the first half, turned on the style after the break and secured the win through goals from Ger Pender and Alan McNally.
The victory makes it a clean sweep of league wins for Harry Kenny's men – the fourth game, an EA Sports Cup quarter-final went, went the other way – over the Inchicore side.
The home side began the game strongly, looking to make amends for a surprise defeat at Finn Harps last Saturday, and within a minute Ryan Brennan forced Brendan Clarke to make the game's first save.
Darragh Noone forced an even better stop from Clarke shortly afterwards with a well-struck shot from distance, and for a time it appeared Clarke was the only man on his team fully awake.
However, with their first attack of the game, Pat's broke at pace and Ger O'Brien did well to dig out a cross that found the head of Jamie McGrath, and he beat Peter Cherrie with a header from 12 yards.
It was a well-placed header from the Meath teenager, however Cherrie was visibly frustrated as he picked the ball out of his net as he really should have gotten a stronger hand behind the ball.
Pat's could have doubled their lead shortly before the break as Bray were again undone by the Saints' ability to counter.
A string of one-touch passes ended with Billy Dennehy free down the right. He squared the ball for Christy Fagan in the box, but he under hit his pass and, though Fagan got the ball past Cherrie, it didn't have the legs to beat the retreating Kevin Lynch.
As lacklustre as Bray were in the first half, they were equally energetic in the second, and they finally managed to get game breaker Dylan Connolly on the ball.
The former Shelbourne winger forced two saves in quick succession from the otherwise underworked Clarke as things finally seemed to click for the home side.
Shortly before the hour, they got the equalising goal their intent merited, as Conor Kenna headed on a Lynch corner and Ger Pender helped the ball into the net – his sixth goal in seven games.
20 minutes from time, the Seagulls took the lead as another inch-perfect Lynch corner found Alan McNally. His bullet header was well saved by Clarke, but the central defender was on hand to bury the rebound.
Despite being clearly second-best since half time, Pat's did engineer an opportunity to equalise that Fagan – the most clinical striker in the league – really should have taken.
The ball broke kindly for the Dubliner close to goal and he shot across Cherrie to the far corner, but to the audible surprise of both sets of supporters he pulled his shot wide.
It was to be the off-form Saints' final chance, though they'll still have a say in the title race with games against Cork City (twice) and Dundalk to come before season's end.
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Alan McNally, Conor Kenna, Kevin Lynch; John Sullivan, Darragh Noone, Ryan Brennan, Jason Marks (Gareth McDonagh 90+3), Dylan Connolly (Alan Kehoe 82); Ger Pender (Dean Kelly 78).
Subs not used: Lee Steacy (gk), Paul Finnegan, Sean Harding, Chris Lyons.
Yellow Cards: Pender (74), Brennan (87)
St Patrick's Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Ger O'Brien, Michael Barker, Darren Dennehy, Ian Bermingham; Graham Kelly (David Cawley 80), Lee Desmond, Conan Byrne, Billy Dennehy (Steven Kinsella 82), Jamie McGrath (Dinny Corcoran 86); Christy Fagan.
Subs not used: Pat Jennings (gk), Rory Feely, Darragh Markey, Mark Timlin.
Yellow Cards: McGrath (28).
Referee: Dave McKeon (Dublin).
Attendance: 800 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Kevin Lynch (Bray Wanderers).
