- Bar OSullivan
- Mon, Jun 09 2008
Bray Wanderers secured their passage to the fourth round of the FAI Cup with a comfortable three nil win over recent FAI Intermediate Cup winners Rockmount. The Cork side competed well for the first half, but two goals in the space of a six minute spell at the start of the second half ensured that Eddie Gormley's side would be among the fifteen other sides in the hat for the next round.
Despite fears that Bray would be without up to six regular starters, the Wicklow side fielded what would be considered a near full strength starting eleven. Mark Duggan lined up on the left hand side of midfield and his shot after five minutes was the games first attempt at goal. Alan Cawley demonstrated just how dangerous he can be from set pieces when he picked out Ger Rowe with a teasing cross from the right. Rockmount keeper Derek Slattery needed to be at his best and got a strong hand to the strikers header. Midway through the half Pat Kavanagh had a shot from twenty five yards - but he too found Slattery hard to beat.
Rockmount's best chance of the opening half came when they won a free kick on the right circa ten yards in from the touchline, forty yards from goal. Defender Willie Byrne whipped in a near perfect cross that left Bray keeper Alan Gough unsure if he should come and collect, or stay on his line. In the end Gough chose a combination of both options, and was lucky that Andy Myler was on hand to clear the danger - despite being under considerable pressure.
Just after the half hour mark Bray really should have taken the lead. Cawley dropped a corner into the six yard box and Ray Kennys header was cleared off the line. The clearance came as far as Kenny's centre back partner Kevin Doherty, but both his shots were blocked by brave and resolute Rockmount defending. Kavanagh picked up the loose ball outside the box and fired a low shot to the far post - it wasn't going to hit the target so Rowe tried to turn it goalwards, but from six yards all he succeeded in doing was blazing it over the crossbar.
The visitors were to have two more half chances before the interval. Doherty sent a header from a Cawley corner a yard or so wide of the upright. Rowe charged down a backpass and was unfortunate that the ball rolled the wrong side of the upright, after Slattery's clearance whacked him on the back.
Two minutes after a half time break that lasted twenty minutes, Bray took the lead. Full back Ronan Ivory broke free on the right and stood up a teasing ball to the back post. Rowe met it with a powerful header but defender P Cunningham managed to get his body between the ball and the goal. Rowe reacted quickly and stabbed the ball past Slattery.
Gavin Whelan had a drive from outside the box end up high and wide - but four minutes later he found the back of the net. Cawley curled in a free kick from the right and Whelan got in front of his marker and flicked the ball past Slattery. Whelan should have then scored another a couple of minutes after that, but after he was played in by Myler, he looked unsure what to do and in the end his tame effort from eight yards didn't even work Slattery.
The move of the match gave Bray their third and final goal in the eighty seventh minute. Duggan, now operating in centre midfield, played an inch perfect pass into the feet of substitute striker Paul Dunphy. Dunphy cushioned the ball into the path of another substitute, Emeka Onwubiko, and he calmly took a touch before sidefooting into the corner of the goal.
Rockmount: Derek Slattery; Alan Weldon, Willie Byrne, Gearoid O’Leary, Ken Hoey; Pat Keane (Cian McDonald 84), Philip Cunningham (Shane Hennessy 67), James Cummins, Gary Leahy (Paddy Punch 74); Ross O’Callaghan, Michael Deasy.
Subs not used: Mark Power, Kevin Herlihy, Alan Martin.
Bray Wanderers: Alan Gough; Ronan Ivory (Gary McCabe 72), Kevin Doherty, Ray Kenny, Derek Pender; Paddy Kavanagh, Alan Cawley, Gavin Whelan, Mark Duggan; Ger Rowe (Emeka Onwubiko 82), Andy Myler (Paul Dunphy 59).
Subs not used: Gavin McInerny, Lloyd Massey, Stephen Lawless, Andrei Georgescu.
Referee: Alan Kelly.
