Friendly

United Park
09 Feb 2018

Hugh Douglas can only watch
pic Larry McQuillan, extratime.ie

Bray had the first chance of the game as Gary McCabe's superb free bounced off the top of Paul Skinner's crossbar with the home keeper well beaten.

The visitors seemed to have taken the lead on 25 minutes as the ball found McCabe in the area. He finished easily, only for the flag to rise, the goal disallowed, whether for a handball in the buildup or for offside wasn't entirely clear.

Three minutes later, however, a neat passing move resulted in the ball being squared back by Aaron Greene to Rónán Coughlan from the right and he made no mistake, slotting home from inside the area.

Five minutes before the break, Dylan Hayes fired just over with a snap shot after a cross from the right by Dan McKenna.

Drogheda's first chance of the game, on the stroke of half time, came down the right as Lee Duffy beat his man with a burst of pace but his low strike was saved well by Evan Moran.

Bray had the first chance of the second period which was just five minutes old when Kevin Lynch set off down the left, cutting a ball across the towards substitute Dan Kelly at the back post, but the substitute couldn’t keep his effort down, firing over the bar.

Drogheda went close to equalising just a minute later, as the Boynesiders put together a neat passing move, getting the ball to Duffy on the right. He found a yard of space before sending a right footed drive just over.

But the home side equalised on 76 minutes, when Bray failed to clear their lines and home subs Richie Purdy and Stephen Meaney took advantage to start a move, the latter finishing off from the edge of the area.

Purdy's initial pass to Meaney failed as the sub fell victim to a heavy challenge, but fellow sub Lee Duffy took up the move and mishit, the partially cleared ball coming back eventually to Meaney who made no mistake the second time.

Jake Kelly seemed through one-on-one with ten minutes to play, but Victor Ekanem got back, stole the ball from Kelly’s feet and cleared.

Five minutes from time, Duffy found space on the right and crossed into the area towards Gareth McCaffrey who headed just over Moran’s bar.

Compiled by Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 1 Evan Moran; 16 Daniel McKenna, 2 Hugh Douglas, 5 Seán Heaney, 3 Kevin Lynch , 19 Rónán Coughlan , 12 Dylan Hayes, 22 Darragh Noone; 7 Cory Galvin, 21 Gary McCabe (c), 9 Aaron Greene
Subs: 9 Gerald Pender (for McKenna H/T), 11 Jake Kelly (for Galvin 60), 14 Rhys Gorman (for McCabe H/T), 17 Daniel Kelly (for Greene H/T), 18 Calvin Rogers (for Hayes H/T), 23 Shane Flynn, 24 Jake Ellis (for Coughlan 64), 29 Alex Nevin (gk)
Drogheda United: 1 Paul Skinner; 2 Colm Deasy, 3 Conor Kane, 17 Ciaran Kelly, 5 Kevin Farragher, 6 Luke Gallagher, 4 Jake Hyland, 8 Sean Brennan (c), 21 Lee Duffy , 9 Chris Lyons, 14 Mark Doyle
Subs: 7 James Carroll, 10 Gareth McCaffrey (for Farragher 64), 15 Stephen Meaney (for Lyons 69) , 16 Luke Rossiter (for Hyland 78), 18 Victor Ekanem (for Gallagher 64), 20 Jordan Kelly, 22 Luca Gratzer (gk), 24 Richard Purdy (for Doyle 64), 25 Lloyd Buckley (for Deasy 64), 27 Kealan Dillon (for Brennan 78), 18 Victor Ekanem (for Gallagher 64)