League Preview: Bray Wanderers -v- Cork City

• Seán O'Connor
• Thu, Feb 17 2022




Bray Wanderers

Bray Wanderers begin their first season after partnering up with Cabinteely FC in November. The new club has retained the Bray Wanderers name, green and white colours, and will stay at the Carlisle Grounds. However, the club’s underage sides will be known as Cabinteely FC.

The club has seen change on the pitch too. Eleven players have been signed to Pat Devlin’s side, while another fourteen have made the switch from Cabinteely. Rob Manley and Dean Zambra will be hoping to make big impacts, having signed from Longford.

Stephen McGuinness and Darragh Levingston have moved to Bray from Bohemians too. Devlin will be hoping that the new faces can fill the holes left by the departures of Brian Maher to Derry City and Sam Verdon to Longford, among others.

Bray endured a tricky pre-season, perhaps expected with the number of new players still settling in at the club. An impressive 3-2 win over Premier Division champions Shamrock Rovers was followed by three losses to Bohemians, Drogheda, and Rovers again.

Having missed out on the promotion/relegation play-off last season to UCD, Bray will be hoping to go one-step further in 2022, in what is set to be a thrilling First Division this year.

Pat Devlin spoke to the club’s media ahead of the visit of Cork.

“I’m sure there'll be a big crowd,” said Devlin.

“We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a cracking game.”

“It’s going to take time, there’s always a transition time. They've worked hard and had a very good pre-season. We’re ready to go.”

Cork City

Cork City will be hoping to bounce back this season, after the 2017 Premier Division champions endured a disappointing 2021 campaign. The Rebel Army began last season poorly, winning two of their opening eight games. City finished the season in sixth, winning eight games out of 27.

Colin Healy had a busy transfer window as he aimed to bolster his squad for 2022. There will be nine new faces at Turners Cross this year, including Barry Coffey and Matt Healy, who join on loan from Celtic and Ipswich Town respectively.

Cork’s Cathal Heffernan also made headlines this month, after completing his loan move to Italian giants AC Milan. The Republic of Ireland under-17 captain made his senior debut with City last season, and also enjoyed trials at Juventus and Roma.

In pre-season, City beat UCD 2-0, before drawing 1-1 away to Finn Harps. They lost 1-0 to FAI Cup winners St. Patrick’s Athletic before earning an encouraging 1-1 draw at home to Shelbourne last weekend.

City boss Colin Healy previewed the trip to Wicklow with the club’s media team.

“Bray is a hard place to go,” he said.

“Every time we go up there it’s a difficult game. That being said, everyone’s looking forward to it. There’s a good atmosphere around the place, but we know we have to go up there and put on a good performance.”

“We’ve worked hard with the players over the last few weeks. They know what they need to do. We obviously had a very bad start last year, but we’ve got a new team, and the players are in very good form. Everyone’s training well. When we go up there, they’ll be ready.”

Referee: Gavin Colfer

MATCH STATS

The sides met three times last season, with each one ending in a draw.

Cork’s last win over Bray came in 2018, after a 5-1 win at Turner’s Cross.

Bray’s last win over Cork was in 2016, with a 4-1 at the Carlisle Grounds.

BETTING

Bray Wanderers evens; Draw 23/10; Cork City 23/10.

PREDICTION

Bray Wanderers 1 - 1 Cork City

Bray Wanderers

Injured:

Doubtful:

Suspended: Kevin Knight, Conor Clifford.

Cork City

Injured: Gordon Walker, George Heaven, Alec Byrne.

Doubtful:

Suspended:

Megan Campbell: ‘The progression since I was in last, we have come on leaps and bounds’ https://t.co/sVN3qD2GRepic.twitter.com/CHrMnDk90u

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) February 17, 2022