Premier

Carlisle Grounds
31 October 2008

Bray claimed their Premier Division place for 2009, and in some style.

A brace of strikes by Aidan O'Keeffe was cancelled out by goals from Greg O'Halloran and lone striker Davin O'Neill - and all inside the opening half hour.

An exciting game between two sides determined to attack remained scoreless thereafter until Gary Cronin replaced O'Keeffe with just over twenty minutes left, and netted three minutes later.

Cobh could count themselves unlucky not to take something from the encounter, having hit the woodwork no fewer than four times.

The game started in lively fashion. Ger Rowe shot wide from a Paddy Kavanagh cross in the first minute, and his second minute header from an Alan Cawley feed caused Anthony Fennelly a little problem, though he claimed it on the second attempt.

Next minute, Ross Gaynor's free was headed clear by Derek Foran.

A corner each followed, and Cobh had two further attempts inside the first ten minutes, skipper Alan Carey sending a free straight to Alan Gough, and an O'Neill run up the left ending with a shot that the Bray keeper needed two tries to gather.

Then came O'Keeffe's opener, when Kavanagh powered up the right and Andy Myler's probable miskick in the area reached the Bray winger in an even better position to sidefoot home.

Referee Dave McKeon waved play on after a couple of accidental handballs in the Cobh area.

The industrious Rowe charged down an attempt by Carey to clear, but his cross was off target, and the Cobh skipper saw his free after he was fouled by Foran rebound off the foot of Gpough's post.

Then Kavanagh's 25m effort fell loose from Fennelly's hands and was only cleared with difficulty.

A Rowe shot that might have been an attempt on goal deceived the Cobh keeper when it fell instead to O'Keeffe who drove home from 8m.

Galvanised by what could have turned into a rout, Cobh fought back with vigour. O'Neill fed Greg O'Halloran whose 20m shot took a deflection past the diving Gough to spin off the far post into the net.

Two minutes later, the visitors were level as O'Neill took charge when Johnny Meade's free was flicked on, rounded his man and bagged his fifth goal in three games.

Shane Guthrie headed clear when Cawley's free from wide on the right seemed goal-bound and at the opther end Gough tipped over a Cobh free at full stretch.

Rowe and Carey clashed after a Bray attack that saw the home side denied three times, including an effort by Rowe which Carey cleared off the line, to be headed high and eventually claimed by Fennelly.

O'Neill shot over from a free and from a Carey cross, and the latter headed a ball fed him by the former off Gough's crossbar, while a Gaybor 24m effort flew just left of the after a hint of a deflection.

In the final minutes of the first period, both sides indulged in a spot of head-tennis which eventually and possibly inevitably led to an off-side flag.

Five minutes into the second, Carey fired the return of his own corner close, Gough getting a hand to it to touch it off the bar.

Just before the hour, Bray were awarded a free many though should have been a penalty when Myler was brought down on the line of the area, and Fennelly soared to to turn Cawley's shot away for the first of a series of corners until when Cawley's attempt to curl the third took it over the endline first.

Colin O'Brien went close for Cobh, bringing another fine save from Gough, who turned it onto the bar and just about claimed the high rebound at the second attempt.

Cronin's control was crucial when he took fellow substitute Gareth Coughlan's cross down with his thigh and squeezed the ball past the Cobh keeper at the near post.

The visitors might have levelled again five minutes later, but for Gough's first-class raction stop of Gaynor's close range shot with his foot, were they were outraged when denied what seemed a perfectly legitimate corner by the assistant referee's flag for a goal-kick.

And in the final minutes, a Carey free for a Colm Tresson foul on the edge of the area was only partially cleared, but Kenny Coleman's low rasper was turned out by the defence for a corner, with Gough claiming after the short flagkick was returned and crossed into the box.

Lively, entertaining football and a fitting manner in which to achieve the target set by manager Eddie Gormley at the start of the season.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 35 Alan Gough; 6 Gavin Whelan, 4 Kevin Doherty, 5 Derek Foran, 17 Derek Pender; 7 Patrick Kavanagh, 8 Alan Cawley (c), 2 Colm Tresson (c), 25 Aidan O'Keeffe; 10 Andrew Myler, 24 Ger Rowe
Subs: 1 Chris O'Connor (gk), 3 Gary Cronin (for 'Keeffe 69), 20 John Mulroy, 23 Gareth Coughlan (for Kavanagh H/T inj), 26 Daryl Robson (for Foran 74)
Cobh Ramblers: 17 Anthony Fennelly; 24 Kenny Coleman, 5 Shane Guthrie, 4 Kevin Murray, 3 Johnny Meade; 2 Alan Carey (c), 21 Greg O'Halloran, 12 Colin O'Brien, 27 Ross Gaynor, 11 Michael Mulconry; 7 Davin O'Neill
Subs: 10 Graham Cummins (for O'Brien 85), 16 Alan Kearney (for Carey 91), 18 Shane Barrett, 23 Conor Meade, 26 Mickey O'Shea (for Mulconry 74)
Referee: Dave McKeon