St Pat’s 1
Bray 0
GREG BOLGER’S GOAL was enough for St Patrick’s Athletic to take all three points against Bray Wanderers tonight in Richmond Park and become the first Pat’s side ever to win nine league games in a row in the league.
Bray had the first effort of note after just four minutes, when Ryan McEvoy whistled a strike just past Brendan Clarke’s far post, but they were made to work off scraps for the rest of the half.
Meanwhile, Conan Byrne forced Peter Cherrie into his first save of the evening on 22 minutes with a powerful strike that the goalkeeper tipped onto his crossbar.
From a similar position, James Chambers then showed lovely technique to chest down Shane McEleney’s pass before shooting into the hands of Cherrie, and despite half chances for both Hugh Douglas and David Scully, the home side continued to dominate before they broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time
Chambers brushed off Niall Cooney and sent in a low cross that Jamie McGrath dummied for Bolger, who arrived into the box to smash the ball to the back of the net.
On the cusp of history, the Saints continued to press for the first quarter of an hour in the second half, but Bray dug in, and only for Jason McGuinness’ block to deny Graham Kelly in the box, the game would have been level on 62 minutes.
It was Gareth McDonagh who set up Kelly after pouncing on Aaron Greene’s poor pass, and the substitute forced yet more sloppy play in the Pat’s defence, but the Seasiders could not make the breakthrough.
Up the other end, Jamie McGrath twice got in behind the Bray rearguard as the game became stretched late on, but he was foiled on both occasions, and Brendan Clarke pushed David Cassidy’s shot onto his crossbar in the final minute to make sure of the historic win.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Clarke, Chambers, McGuinness, McEleney, Desmond, Byrne, Brennan, Bolger, Forrester, Greene, McGrath (Langley 88).
BRAY WANDERERS: Cherrie, Barker, McNally, Cooney, Douglas, Scully (Lyons, 73), Wixted (McDonagh 60), Kelly, Cassidy, Sullivan, McEvoy.
