BRAY WANDERERS

1-2

CABINTEELY

Conor Clifford 45

Kevin Knight 57 pen

Mark Byrne 77 og

First Division

Carlisle Grounds
15 Oct 2021

Could he get any closer?
Pic Peter Minogue

A disappointing result for the Wicklow side, who were chasing just a single point to guarantee their play-off spot.

The last significant action of the first half brought them a reward for trying hard for three quarters of an hour, during which neither side really seemed likely to score. Conor Clifford fired a low free just around the wall and under former Bray No. 2 keeper Adam Hayden.

Barely ten minutes into the second period, what appeared an innocuous attempt to clear an Eoin McPhillips free was read by the officials as a foul on Mitchell Byrne, and a penalty was duly awarded.

Kevin Knight made no mistake, sending the ball high while Brian Maher dived to his left.

And another ten minutes later, a ball from the right by Eoin Massey reached Luke McWilliams, whose effort rebounded off the unlucky Mark Byrne into the Bray goal.

Tenacious defending by the visitors frustrated all Bray's efforts to score again.

From an early Brandon Kavanagh corner, Callum Thompson went close but left of target. A Dylan Barnett cross intended for Darren Craven flew too far and was easily claimed by Hayden, and a Kavanagh free near the righthand sideline just missed Gary Shaw at the far post.

All of that within the opening ten minutes - and yet this was far from the whirlwind openings we have seen recently, and which might have thrown a team coming from five straight defeats off their balance.

Instead, Cabinteely fought back, Jack Hudson heading just wide from a tenth minute free, and Ben Feeney shooting just over on the quarter hour mark.

Dan Jones tried his luck from 30m, but was well wide, and Craven couldn't keep his shot down from a Shaw cut-back just on midway through the half, while Richie O'Farrell's effort on the half hour was blocked by Blackbyrne's body deep within the Cabinteely defence.

Shortly after that, Eoin McPhillips's 25m free on the left was well outside the target, and while the next effort, by Feeney, was a lot closer, Maher had it well covered.

On 35 minutes O'Farrell's shot from just outside the area came back off the post with Hayden vainly diving below it, and three minutes before the break the visiting goalie was again in action claiming Aaron Barry's optimistic long ball intended for Kavanagh, who had too much ground to make up to get there first.

Minutes later, following a Barnett throw deep in Cabinteelys' right corner, a double one-two between him and Craven brought a fine reaction save from Hayden just ouside his near post, and it was from another Barnett throw that the foul on Kavanagh barely outside the penalty area gave Clifford his goal.

Mark Byrne, whose night would later get much worse, was cautioned for the supposed foul on his namesake that gave the visitors an equaliser.

Just after the hour, O'Farrell had a chance to rrestore the home side's lead when he received the ball from Thompson after Shaw's wide feed to the latter, but the midfielder could only find the sidenetting, and minutes later, Barnett fizzed a low shot from the left just beyond tha far post.

Bray had what looked a plausible handball shout when Knught appeared to raise his arm towards Thompson's cross, but the officials weren't interested.

Even worse, Bray's defence was looking more and more ragged, and it was perhaps a positioning error that left Byrne in position diagonallybehind Maher when McWilliams went for a narrow angle shot that was prbably destined to fly across the face of goal if the Bray defender had not been in the way.

Bray upped their tempo in the remaining quarter hour or so, but their accuracy was not equally improved, and nor was their shape. Clifford tried his luck from 30m but his shot was just too high, as was Kavanagh's last minute free from the outside of the 'D'.

The Cabinteely defence showed a remarkable knack of getting their bodies in the way of Bray's balls, and though Jay Nwanze seemed to block O'Farrell's close-range 95th minute effort out behind, there was no time to play the goalkick that was awarded.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Maher; 8 Mark Byrne , 15 Daniel Jones, 5 Aaron Barry (c), 3 Dylan Barnett; 6 Conor Clifford ; 27 Callum Thompson, 11 Brandon Kavanagh, 14 Richie O’Farrell, 16 Darren Craven; 10 Gary Shaw
Subs: 4 Andrew Quinn, 7 Ryan Graydon (for Craven 66), 9 Joe Doyle (for Byrne 84), 17 Luka Lovic, 18 Sean Callan, 19 Darragh Lynch, 22 Steven Kinsella, 25 Kian Clarke (gk), 28 Sam Verdon (for Thompson 80)
Cabinteely: 1 Adam Hayden; 2 Daniel Blackbyrne (c) , 21 Jamin Nwanze, 3 Kevin Knight ; 33 Mitchell Byrne ; 4 Jack Hudson, 34 Ben Feeney, 20 Eoin McPhillips, 19 Luke McWilliams; 15 Eoin Massey; 9 Destiny Idele
Subs: 5 Dan Tobin (for Hudson 82), 11 Sean McDonald (for Idele 91+), 17 Seán McLean (for McPhillips 82), 18 Conor Knight, 22 Dean Casey, 26 Ben Houton, 27 Jack O'Reilly, 29 Jem Campion, 35 Ben Clarke (gk)
Referee: Gavin Colfer

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