Bray Wanderers (2) - St Patrick's Athletic (2)

Match Report

Bray Wanderers 2 - St Patrick's Athletic 2

A bitter-sweet end to a rollercoaster match saw Jason Byrne complete Bray's fightback from 2-0 down with their equaliser seven minutes from time only to be sentoff two minutes later.

Byrne controlled Kieran O'Brien's cross to swivel and drill home a left foot shot on 85 minutes to give Bray nothing more than they deserved.

But, alas, the 22-year-old, harshly booked for an earlier tumble with Trevor Crolly, was trooping off the field within minutes after tripping Paul Byrne from behind; his second bookable offence.

In a cracking game, Liam Kelly had St Patrick's in front on 25 minutes when he nipped in behind a hesitant Jody Lynch to reach goalkeeper Shay Kelly's long free-kick.

The St Patrick's striker cleverly flicked the ball over the advancing Eddie van Boxtel before tapping home his fifth goal in six games.

Fellow striker, Gerard McCarthy, doubled the in-form visitors' lead ten minutes later as Bray conceded another bad goal.

Van Boxtel could only partially punch clear a Paul Byrne corner. The ball fell perfectly at the feet of the unmarked McCarthy whose weak sidefoot shot still had enough power to run through a forest of legs and enter the net.

Two St Patrick's old boys combined to get Bray back into the match in first-half injury time. Shay Kelly totally misjudged a corner from Keith Long and Dave Campbell got in behind him to find the net with a powerful header. Bray pressed hard for their equaliser throughout the second-half. But it looked as if it would elude them as both Long and Byrne wasted very scoreable chances. Byrne, and referee Dick O'Hanlon, then provided the final twists.

© irishtimes.com

Match Info

Date: 29/10/2000
Competition: League
Venue: Carlisle Grounds

Home Team

van Boxtel; Britton, Lynch, Campbell, Farrell; O'Connor, Long, Tresson, Keogh; Dempsey, J Byrne. Subs: K O'Brien for Campbell (51 mins), Doohan for Dempsey (68 mins), Smith for Long (79 mins).

Away Team

S Kelly; Croly, Foley, Maguire, K. Doyle; Byrne, Griffin, R McGuinness, G Doyle; L Kelly, McCarthy. Subs: Burke for G Doyle (70 mins).

Officials

Referee: R O'Hanlon (Waterford)

Goalscorers

Yellow Cards

Red Cards

St Patrick's Athletic FC

Founded in 1929 the 'Saints' are the current FAI Cup holders and play in the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League at Richmond Park, in Inchicore Dublin 8, Ireland.

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Contact Us

125 Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8, D08 E0Y7, Ireland

(+353) 1 454 6332
(+353) 1 454 6211

info@stpatsfc.com
www.stpatsfc.com

Match Report