Bray Wanderers 0
Cork City 1
KIERAN SADLIER WAS both the villain and the hero of the piece as he kept Cork City’s double dream alive.
The mazy attacker spurned a 57th minute penalty but almost immediately atoned as his smart finish two minutes later saw the Leesiders negotiate their way past a tricky tie at the Carlisle Grounds.
The hosts muddled away throughout and battled keenly but never troubled Mark McNulty.
Karl Sheppard spurned a couple of decent chances in the first period but Sadlier had the first real opportunity of the tie from 12 yards out on 56 minutes.
An insightful one-two between Shane Griffin and Sadlier saw the former swerve past Tim Clancy and Aaron Greene, in his over-eagerness to chip in defensively, flew into a tackle and conceded a penalty.
Sadlier stepped up and struck it to Steacy’s right but that’s exactly where the shot-stopper had gambled to dive and he made the save.
The winger only had to wait two minutes to atone for his error though. Griffin took a throw-in from the left and Cork executed some quick passing around the edge of the area to free Sadlier. He curled a lovely finish beyond Steacy to hand his side the lead.
Substitute Achille Campion had a golden chance to kill off Bray late on when Steacy failed to gather a cross but the striker fired his effort straight at Conor Kenna who was guarding the goal-line.
Bray Wanderers: Lee Steacy; Keith Buckley, Tim Clancy, Conor Kenna, Karl Moore; John Sullivan, Mark Salmon (Kevin Lynch, 84); Ryan Brennan, Darragh Noone (Gary McCabe, 64), Jason Marks (Ger Pender, 60); Aaron Greene.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Conor McCormack, Robbie Williams (Conor McCarthy, 81), Ryan Delaney, Shane Griffin; Steven Beattie (Achille Campion, 61), Gearoid Morrissey, Greg Bolger, Kieran Sadlier; Garry Buckley; Karl Sheppard.
Referee: Robert Harvey.
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