St. Pat's inflict another defeat on Bray
Chris Shields of Bray Wanderers come under pressure from Derek Pender of St. Patrick's Athletic.
Wednesday February 24 2010
BRAY WANDERERS sunk to their fifth pre-season defeat on the bounce to Premier Division sides on Monday evening as St. Patrick's Athletic beat them 3-1 at the Carlisle Grounds.
The hosts made the brighter start to the match and had their Dublin opposition pinned into their own half for much of the opening 20 minutes of the match, but failed to cause Pat's goalie Paul Hunt undue worry.
After Shane O'Neill was caught in the chest by a high foot on the edge of the area, James Kavanagh stepped up to drill the free-kick into the wall and the midfielder will be disappointed not to have troubled Hunt.
In the 21 st minute the home side felt they should have had a penalty when Dane Massey was cynically chopped down right on the edge of the area, but referee Damien Hancock ruled the foul occurred outside the area, much to the Seagulls fans dismay. Massey took the set-piece himself, but his cross went straight out for a throw-in on the far touchline.
Wanderers had their first shot on target on 24 minutes when Massey fed O'Neill, who forced Hunt into a smart save with a snapshot from 18 yards out.
And then in the 33rd minute the Saints took the lead through former Bray man Conor Sinnott when he slid the ball past Kane after a swift counterattack from his side.
It then took the visitors six minutes until they doubled their lead, again via a counter-attack.
Another former Bray man, Paul Byrne, played Alex Williams in down the left wing and his cross was converted calmly at the back post by David McAllister.
Shane O'Neill came agonizingly close to netting his fourth goal of the preseason campaign when his 54th minute free-kick beat Hunt but not the woodwork, with the ball crashing back off the post.
Gormley's side did pull one back against his former club in the 67th minute, after Hunt clattered Jake Kelly to the ground after the shot-stopper had lost the ball to the young Bray striker.
Kelly dusted himself down before firing the penalty beyond Hunt and into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Hunt's side added a third with eight minutes remaining when substitutes Ryan Guy and Vinny Faherty combined, with the former squaring the ball to the latter to stroke home after breaking the offside trap.
- DANIEL GORMAN
