Premier

Carlisle Grounds
25 Apr 2015

Cassidy rises higher than Marc Ludden
Main pic: Barbara Flynn

Bray succumbed to the Tribesmen in their worst loss of the season so far.

Enda Curran's hat-trick established the victory as Galway United trounced Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds.

The striker scored in the second minute of the game, adding another just before half-time and his third ten minutes into the second period.

Ryan Connolly and Padraic Cunningham added further goals before the final whistle.

Even seasoned Bray-watchers must have been scratching their heads, wondering if the team that beat Limerick and Sligo earlier in the month had been a mirage.

And the home side were lucky not to have conceded several other goals that almost fell the visitors' way.

Galway might, indeed, have been three goals to the good inside the opening five minutes.

First, Stephen McGuinness failed to gather Connolly’s corner after just 84 seconds and Curran volleyed to the net.

A minute later Cunningham got free on the right to pick out the unmarked Connolly whose powerful drive was straight at McGuinness when he really should have scored.

With Bray at sixes-and-sevens at the back, a third clear opening arrived for Galway within a further two minutes, but Jake Keegan’s downward header from Connolly’s free bounced wide.

Curran seemed to have an arguable penalty claim when he was brought down just inside the area by Alan McNally, but Dave McKeon wasn't convinced.

Keegan played Cunningham in a minute after that, the striker dragging his cross shot wide of the far post with Gary Shanahan arriving just too late to get the vital touch.

The Seagulls gradually settled, if only for a short spell, and were close to levelling with their first effort on goal mid-way through the opening period.

Michael Barker’s superb diagonal ball from right-back found David Cassidy who had made some space with a darting run towards the left post. The Bray skipper hit a first time side-footed volley towards the top right hand corner that went just wide.

Minutes later, Bray won a corner after good work down the right by David Scully and Ryan McEvoy whipped in a dangerous ball that ultimately went to waste as Hugh Douglas was called for a foul while jostling for position.

The home side finally started to string passess together inside the Galway half, with McEvoy and Graham Kelly showing more patience, but the United defence was working well, with Marc Ludden and Colm Horgan denying Bray any real space.

Galway's second goal featured slack defending, as Shanahan got past Daniel O’Reilly a little too easily to a McGuinness clearance, crossing for Curran to score with a header.

Bray created one final chance before the break, Kelly winning a free kick when he was brought down at the end of a surging run up the middle. Cassidy took the ensuing free and got his low curling effort past the wall but it was cleared behind them.

In a frantic opening to the second half, Cunningham and Shanahan both came close to grabbing a third for the vistors but last ditch defending and some good positioning from McGuinness kept the deficit unchanged for a time.

But it wasn't long before Colm Horgan’s quick free caught the home defence napping and Curran ran into the right channel to rifle a right-foot shot to the roof of the net.

Enda Curran
Tormented Bray

Douglas nearly pulled one back for the home side just before the hour as he drove a powerful header toward the roof of the Galway net only to be denied by Ger Hanley's first save of the day. It would have been ruled out for offside in any case.

Adam Hanlon continued to work tirelessly up and down the right wing, eventually earning a free kick deep in the right-hand corner, but it was well cleared.

And Peter McGlynn shot straight at Hanley when he was clean through.

Connolly then pounced on a loose ball and unleashed a 30 metre left-foot shot that flew in off a post with McGuinness vainly stretching to cover.

Curran was continuing to cause problems for the Seagulls' defence and nearly claimed a fourth for himself as his header was turned over for a corner by Douglas.

But it was Cunningham who grabbed his first League goal, reacting fastest to a botched clearance and blasting a volley past the Bray keeper to complete the home side's misery.

From then on, Galway played mainly for possession with Stephen Walsh and Sam Oji continuing to work the defence towards a clean sheet.

Nevertheless, Bray substitute Emeka Onwubiko made his way across the front of the Galway goal before firing a left footed shot wide of Hanley's post.

And Galway sub Conor Barry nearly added a sixth in time added after good work from Walsh who powered past McNally before picking out Barry, whose shot from the edge of the area slid just over the bar.

Compiled by Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 32 Stephen McGuinness; 2 Michael Barker, 5 Alan McNally, 20 Hugh Douglas, 4 Daniel O'Reilly; 11 Adam Hanlon, 24 Graham Kelly, 10 Ryan McEvoy, 13 Peter McGlynn; 8 David Cassidy (c); 7 David Scully
Subs: 1 Brian Kane (gk), 6 Adam Mitchell, 12 Niall Cooney (for O'Reilly 71), 14 Luke Gallagher (for Kelly 77), 17 Peter Durrad, 18 Chris Lyons, 19 Emeka Onwubiko (for Scully 58)
Galway United: 1 Ger Hanley; 2 Colm Horgan, 24 Sam Oji, 7 Stephen Walsh, 3 Marc Ludden; 17 Gary Shanahan, 6 Paul Sinnott (c), 10 Ryan Connolly, 12 Jake Keegan; 9 Enda Curran, 18 Padraic Cunningham
Subs: 4 Alex Byrne (for Curran 68), 8 David O'Leary (for Sinnott 62), 13 Cormac Raftery, 15 Antaine O'Laoi, 20 Kevin Garcia, 21 Conor Barry (for Shanahan 75), 25 Conor Winn (gk)
Referee: David McKeon