BRAY WANDERERS 1 SHELBOURNE 0
The countdown to 200 is on for Jason Byrne as the Bray striker's second-half goal proved to be the difference between the Seasiders and ten man Shelbourne at the Carlisle Grounds.
The former Bohemians and Shelbourne striker had had a goal ruled out for offside moments before but he wasn't to be denied a second time when in the 68th minute he met Kieran 'Marty' Waters' inch perfect cross to score the game's decisive goal. That puts the twice-capped Ireland international on 194 league goals, just six from the coveted 200.
Bray edged out a Shels side who lost Paul Crowley 28 minutes into his competitive début after the former Drogheda United midfielder lunged into Bray's Daire Doyle. The referee had no hesitation in giving the midfielder his marching orders, yet despite their numerical advantage it seemed as though Bray were still playing against 11 men as they didn't fully exploit the extra space in midfield - but they did enough to claim three points and that's all Pat Devlin will care about as Bray got their season off to a winning start.
Shelbourne manager Alan Mathews, by contrast, will have left this game with nothing but a massive headache as he now finds himself with a potential mini-crisis in midfield after just one game, with Glen Cronin potentially joining the now suspended Crowley on the sideline after the Shelbourne skipper seemingly succumbed to the ankle injury which made him a doubt before kick-off.
On a dull and drizzly night by the sea, both Devlin and Mathews sent their sides out with five-man midfields, each with a man breaking forward to support their respective strikers, the goal-scoring Byrne and Philly Hughes - but while the returning Wanderer Gary Dempsey was able to link up with Byrne to good effect, Crowley's sending off left Shels shorn of their link between Hughes and the middle of the park, leaving the Reds striker isolated for much of the game.
However, Shels had the better of the initial exchanges. Jack Memery gave Dempsey a welcome back to the Premier Division he won't forget when he won the ball in a strong but fair challenge on the midfielder after three minutes. And after a quarter of an hour, another forceful Memery challenge on Zambra saw the ball fly at full force and hit Dempsey in the face. Happily for Bray, he recovered after a minute or so.
Robert Bayly had the first shot of the game after eight minutes, his attempt from distance flying harmlessly wide of Darren Quigley's goal. Moments later, Hughes was fouled by Bray centre-back Danny O'Connor near the half-way line and Bayly bent the resulting free-kick towards the back post - but it evaded everybody and was allowed to bounce in the box, forcing Quigley to scramble across his goal and turn it 'round the post.
A clever Dempsey ball down the right channel was latched onto by Byrne whose cut-back was only partially deflected away by Reds right-back Robert Cornwall. The ball fell to Dean Zambra and the Bray midfielder's curling effort was clawed away by Ger Hanley - that save would have done the 'keeper's confidence no harm at all after the tannoy announcer referred to him as "the reserve team goalkeeper" while reading out the team sheets before the game.
It was Shels' turn to attack then as Hughes and Adam Hanlon combined on the right wing to release the former Bray winger whose low cross was only prevented from reaching Alex Prizeman in the box by a terrific challenge from Bray right-back Eoin Hyland. Moments later, an equally excellent tackle by Ian Ryan stopped Waters' drive into the penalty area at the other end of the pitch.
And then, with only 28 minutes gone, Crowley received his red card. Bray began to exert some more pressure then, with Dempsey switching the ball left to Waters who, in turn, fed his over-lapping left-back David Webster. His attempted cross earned Bray a corner from which they should have scored, the ball reaching Webster at the back-post only for the 6'1" defender to inexplicably turn away from it - the ball struck his back and went wide.
The Reds' rearguard was overworked in cutting out crosses and making last ditch interceptions for the remainder of the half, with Shels' one decent breakaway coming when Hanlon ran at the Bray backline and tried to slip Hughes in - but his pass was over-hit and Danny O'Connor had marshalled Hughes well in any case.
Hughes did well to win a couple of free-kicks in the Bray half after Crowley's dismissal but Shels failed to capitalise on the respite from pressure, ceding possession to the home side each time. And just before half-time skipper Glen Cronin picked up a booking before needing to be substituted after seemingly aggravating his ankle injury. Stephen Hurley came on, taking the captain's armband.
But not long after the restart, a lax pass in the centre-circle by the stand-in skipper was seized upon by Waters - who had switched flanks with Doyle - and the winger ran at Gartland before nipping inside where he was met by an over-zealous Hurley's attempt to win the ball back. The Shels man was booked and the winger trotted back to his position on the left flank to resume his tormenting of Cornwall.
In the 58th minute, Devlin showed his hand, removing Daire Doyle and sending Irish u21 international Ismahil Akinade into the fray, reverting his side's formation to a 4-3-3 with Waters on the left, Akinade on the right and Byrne through the middle. And moments later, Byrne spurned a glorious chance to open the scoring when he found himself through on the right side of the penalty area - but he could only scoop his effort straight into the grateful gloves of the onrushing Hanley.
However, Byrne did have the ball in the net not long after when Waters returned a Dempsey short-corner to the midfielder, whose cross from an improved angle was cleared only as far as Danny O'Connor near the right side of the box - he placed it back into the six yard area where Byrne was on hand to guide it home, only to see it ruled out for offside.
Shels raced up the other end of the pitch and finally registered a chance in the second half, but Hughes' header from ten yards bounced into the ground too early and was retrieved at a decent height by Quigley. And in the frantic nature of this match, Bray had the ball in the Shels net within a minute of that chance.
Dempsey hit a perfect ball from the centre-circle out to Waters on the left-wing, where he left Cornwall for dead again and whipped in a tantalising cross which Byrne did not pass up, burying his header from six yards past the helpless Hanley.
Eight minutes later Byrne was substituted to an ovation from the Wanderers' fans who almost had a second goal to celebrate when Akinade - now playing through the middle - latched onto substitute Shane O'Neill's heavy touch-cum-decent pass. However, the 19 year-old snatched at it when another touch was on and his low shot flew straight into Hanley's stomach.
Hughes had a gilt-edged chance to equalise after good work by Mark Leech. The substitute harried and hussled his way towards the edge of the penalty area, attempting to fire in a cross before going down under the challenges of two Bray players. The ball rolled to Hughes just inside the penalty area who must've thought he was going to score, only to see Kevin Knight intervene with a crucial block.
The ball was cleared and with it went Shels' last chance of stealing a point.
TEAMS:
Bray Wanderers: Darren Quigley; Eoin Hyland, Danny O'Connor (Conor Earley, 84 mins), David Webster, Kevin Knight; Daire Doyle (Ismahil Akinade, 58 mins), Kevin O'Connor, Gary Dempsey, Dean Zambra, Kieran 'Marty' Waters; Jason Byrne (Shane O'Neill, 75 mins). Subs not used: Sean Holmes, Peter Thomas, John Mulroy, Patsy Malone.
Booked/sent off: Shane O'Neill (80 mins)/none
Shelbourne: Ger Hanley; Robert Cornwall (Brian Shorthall, 75 mins), Graham Gartland, Ian Ryan, Jack Memery; Adam Hanlon, Robert Bayly, Glen Cronin (c) (Stephen Hurley, 43 mins), Paul Crowley, Alex Prizeman (Mark Leech, 74 mins); Philly Hughes. Subs not used: Niall Burdon, Craig Mooney, Sean Brennan.
Booked/sent off: Glen Cronin (42 mins), Stephen Hurley (53 mins)/Paul Crowley (28 mins)
Ref: Padraigh Sutton
FTR man of the match: Kieran 'Marty' Waters
MATCH STATS (Bray Wanderers/Shelbourne):
Shots: 10/7
Corners: 5/1
Fouls: 7/10
Offsides: 6/3
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