FAI Cup

Richmond Park
23 Jul 2021

Wanderers' prospects going to Inchicore were never great, but a masterful switch of format by Pats manager Stephen O'Donnell midway through the first half, together with a brace of early second-half goals, contributed to their worst Cup result since joining the League - and perhaps ever.

While the opening play suggested a pair of teams that were reasonably well matched, when Billy King and Jason McClelland swapped right for left they made an immediate impact on the Bray defence, and within minutes King had opened the scoring with a powerful shot that Brian Maher reached but couldn't stop.

The home team continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded with a 2-0 half-time score when McClelland headed King's cross into the near corner.

Two goals within two minutes early in the second period, Ben McCormack from an Ian Bermingham cross and Sam Bone following loose play in front of Maher's goal, took the heart out of the Seagulls.

Whatever chance there might have been of a late recovery was quenched when Paddy Barrett, after losing and then regaining possession, fired home just after the hour mark, and King's second was just icing on the cake.

As early as three minutes in, McClelland made his way up the Bray right and managed a deep cross that missed all in the area, but as if to emphasise that there were two teams in the game a Joe Doyle cross a couple of minutes later was neatly claimed by Vitezslav Jaros.

Nevertheless, despite neat midfield work by the visitors, they lacked penetration, and in rapid succession a shot by Bone following Smith's feed to McCormack was blocked by Aaron Barry and Maher had to be alert to grab another McClelland cross.

A Dylan Barnett flag-kick nine minutes in came to Danny Jones, but his well-conceived cross was a touch too far, and just before the quarter hour mark, Bray thought they had won a corner, but a goal-kick was the result.

McClelland continued to probe up the Pats left, a shot on 18 minutes straight at Maher and another a minute later flew out behind the net, which was also the fate of Doyle's next attempted cross.

But after the switch, the payoff was almost instantaneous when Jamie Lennon spread wide left for King who checked inside to fire off a low shot that somehow deceived Maher, whose left hand wasn't solidly behind it and it ricocheted into the net.

Just at the half hour, McClelland reacted hastily to McCormack's cross, his shot flying high and right. Minutes later Darren Craven looked on track for a shot after a good run with a ball received from Doyle when he hesitated and was duly deprived of possession by Lee Desmond, and a minute later Sam Verdon also appeared through until Jaros intervened.

A minute later, the Seagulls' task became a lot harder, when King was left in space wih time to cross for McClelland's diving header to the near corner.

Verdon's effort to claw something back again flew straight to Jaros, but the Pats keeper failed to keep a backpass in play in time added, and Bray looked like pulling one back when Mark Byrne dropped Brandon Kavanagh's short flag-kick into the goal area, but the attack ended with the award of a free out.

An early effort after the restart saw Darren Craven's shot rebound off the back of Richie O’Farrell, and Dylan Barnett drew a fine save from Jaros as Bray seemed to have gathered themselves for a battle, but they continued to be under pressure and the two goals from McCormack and Bone put the game effectively beyond their reach, and they rarely ventured much out of their own half thereafter.

Some slight deficiencies in the decisison-making were appearing, a ball over the line with play continuing, a throw given when a corner seemed appropriate, and in the late stages a possible handball by Bray not penalised.

But by that stage that total was six for Pats without reply, good crossfield play and the kind of pass that had paid dividends already in the game reaching King who had no problem finding the net with a shot from a narrow angle.

In the late stages, Pats twice had frees rebound off the Bray wall, and in time added a by then rare Bray forward move ended with players on the ground and no sanction.

There was no doubt about Pats superiority on the night, but O'Donnell's replacement of Jaros by the 18-year-old Josh Keeley amounted to something verging on a humiliation.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Maher; 4 Andrew Quinn, 5 Aaron Barry (c), 15 Daniel Jones ; 8 Mark Byrne; 9 Joe Doyle, 14 Richie O’Farrell, 16 Darren Craven, 3 Dylan Barnett; 11 Brandon Kavanagh, 28 Sam Verdon
Subs: 10 Gary Shaw (for Kavanagh 61), 12 Dean O’Shea (for Barnett 78), 17 Luka Lovic (for Byrne 61), 18 Sean Callan (for Quinn 78), 19 Darragh Lynch, 22 Steven Kinsella (for Verdon 70), 24 Cian Maher, 25 Kian Clarke (gk), 30 Jack Ross (gk)
St Patrcks Athletic: 1 Vitezslav Jaros; 4 Sam Bone , 29 Paddy Barrett , 5 Lee Desmond, 3 Ian Bermingham (c); 15 Billy King , 6 Jamie Lennon, 16 Alfie Lewis, 11 Jason McClelland ; 18 Ben McCormack ; 12 Matty Smith
Subs: 2 John Mountney (for Desmond 64), 7 Robbie Benson, 8 Chris Forrester, 17 Darragh Burns, 21 Barry Murphy (gk), 25 Josh Keeley (for Jaros 80), 31 Kian Corbally (for Lewis 77), 38 Thomas Lonergan (for King 80), 39 James Abankwah
Referee: John McLoughlin