Bray Wanderers 2 St Patrick’s Athletic 1
CORNERS PROVED TO be Bray Wanderers’ friends as a pair of them resulted in the Seagulls coming from behind to leapfrog St Patrick’s Athletic.
A Jamie McGrath header gave the Saints the lead against the run of play after 12 minutes but second-half efforts from Ger Pender and Alan McNally kept Harry Kenny’s top six hopes alive.
A cross from Ger O’Brien was the source of the opener. McGrath met it perfectly to loop it into the far corner via the post.
Wanderers were allowed to boss possession but had very little end product and trailed at the break.
That changed on 57 minutes. Kevin Lynch’s corner from the right was flicked on and Pender managed to bundle it in from point-blank range.
It was double trouble for Liam Buckley’s charges with 20 minutes to play. Lynch swung the flag kick in from the right again.
This time, McNally powered a header at goal that Billy Dennehy blocked on the line but the veteran centre-half followed up to rifle it to the roof of the net.
The hosts survived a massive scare late on. Lee Desmond broke through and was thwarted by Peter Cherrie but then Christy Fagan fizzed his strike wide with the goal seemingly at his mercy.
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Alan McNally, Conor Kenna, Kevin Lynch; John Sullivan; Jason Marks (Gareth McDonagh, 90+3), Darragh Noone, Ryan Brennan, Dylan Connolly (Alan Kehoe, 83); Ger Pender (Dean Kelly, 78).
St Patrick’s Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Ger O’Brien, Michael Barker, Darren Dennehy, Ian Bermingham; Graham Kelly (David Cawley, 80), Lee Desmond; Conan Byrne, Jamie McGrath (Dinny Corcoran, 86), Billy Dennehy (Stephen Kinsella, 82); Christy Fagan.
Referee: David McKeon.
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