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St. Patrick's Athletic 3 Bray Wanderers 0
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 09:40
St Patrick’s Athletic ensured they went into the mid-season break on top of the Premier Division after beating Bray Wanderers 3-0 on Tuesday night.



The Saints got off to the perfect start at Richmond Park as Vinny Faherty opened the scoring on two minutes to stun Eddie Gormley’s side.



A rash decision by keeper Brian Keane to rush off his line ended with a foul on winger Derek Doyle just outside his own box. Damian Lynch took the free-kick and floated it into the waiting Faherty, who made no mistake.



Pete Mahon’s men have been one of the surprise acts this season, but they fully merit their position at the top of the table and this victory was further evidence of that.



Once they had taken the lead, St Pat’s grew in confidence with Faherty forcing Kane into a good save after he let rip with a shot from distance.



But he didn’t have to wait long to get on the scoresheet again as he rose highest in the penalty area on 14 minutes to connect with Doyle’s cross and head into the back of the net.



Alex Williams, earning a rare start up front, twice came close to getting a goal of his own, but Kane got down to save his first effort and his other shot was off target.



Bray were positive in their play whenever they were in possession, however they were restricted to shooting from distance with Jake Kelly, Shane O’Neill, John Mulroy and Chris Shields all coming close.



There were some plus points for Gormley to pick up on, like the battling display by Shields in central midfield and the glimpses of skill that Kelly showed, but his team were fighting a losing battle from the start.



St Pat’s were the better side, but they were far from their best with a curling free-kick wide from Doyle and a missed one-on-one from Dave Mulcahy counting as their best chances in the early part of the second period.



Then Pete Mahon decided to freshen things up by bringing on Brian Cash and Paul Byrne. That double change almost had an immediate impact as Byrne saw his header saved by Kane after he connected with a corner kick.



Faherty should have had a hat-trick with five minutes remaining, but his marker beat him to a cross and the chance was gone before the former Galway United striker could rise up to it.



Then Conor Sinnott wrapped it all up with a goal in injury time to ensure St Pat’s took the maximum points from this encounter and they will be pleased to have finished the first half of the season on top of the table.





St Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers; Haverty, Kenna, Guthrie, Lynch; Guy, S Byrne, Mulcahy, Doyle (Cash 75); Williams (P Byrne 75), Faherty (Sinnott 89).



Substitutes Not Used: Connor, Harney.



Bray Wanderers: Kane; D Doyle, O’Connor, Tresson (Kavanagh 70), Massey; O’Neill, Shields, Brennan, Kelly; Mulroy (Zambra 82), Vickers (R Doyle 64).



Substitutes Not Used: Byrne, Lambert.



Referee: D McKeon (Dublin)
 
 
 
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