Kildare Vs. Bray

KILDARE COUNTY 0-3 BRAY WANDERERS
Zayed 15, 85
Fox 88


Hughes, Kenny s/o 57 Charles s/o 57
Brennan s/o 67

First Division

Station Road
1 November 2003

Two dog fights in County Kildare at the weekend - this was the legal one, although scarcely more edifying than the canine contest. There, gardaí interrupted the disreputable proceedings; we could have done with police involvement at Station Road where referee Buttimer was overwhelmed by the storm.

There was little likelihood of good football, the conditions saw to that with a blustery gale force wind blowing rain towards the station road, but occasionally changing tack to make judgement of the flight of the ball a lottery. Once four players had been dismissed the game descended into farce. But farce is supposed to be funny and County, reduced to eight men, will not find the loss of three vital promotion points amusing.

The predicted headlines were expected to feature the name of Eamon Zayed and, sure enough, the extraordinarily talented young striker was involved in most of the news, both fit and unfit to print. But first to seize the attention was Bray manager Pat Devlin’s imaginative tactical ploy designed to confuse the home side from the kick off. The word flexible is inadequate to describe the shape of his team. Colm Tresson played libero, sometimes sweeping behind the back four, more often pushing up into midfield where his role was echoed by Fox pushing forward from midfield. So although Zayed might be styled the lone striker this was rarely the case, with McGuinness and Ryan also advancing on the flanks.

In response Kildare withdrew their wide men to go five at the back, releasing Scully to patrol in front of his defence.

How would Zayed respond to his unexpected omission from the Irish Under-20 World Cup squad? He was positive within the first minute but keeper Tadhg Murphy got there first when Fox cut the ball back. Murphy was a last minute replacement for Danny O’Leary, who incurred a hamstring strain in the warm up.

Zayed went for goal again in the eighth minute but only found the side netting. Meanwhile Kildare’s striking ace, Philip Hughes, had seen his effort drop harmlessly on to the roof of John Walsh’s net. The Bray keeper had a nasty moment after sixteen minutes, hesitating in his judgement of a storm affected through ball and ultimately only able to pat the ball away. Fortunately Wesley Charles was on hand to mop up.

But the visitors were a goal ahead by then, scored a minute earlier and inevitably by Zayed, but provided by Bray’s man of the match Eddie Gormley, who took advantage of Ray Kenny to send the young striker clear on goal. On the half hour only a great save by Walsh preserved the advantage. McNevin’s powerful header was well directed but the veteran Bray keeper flew to his left to divert the ball past the upright. Five minutes later McNevin came close again, speeding through on the left then cutting in to hit a tremendous drive that skimmed the Wanderers crossbar. The first half came to an end with a fine diving header from Farrell from a Tresson cross making the side netting bulge from the wrong side.

On an evening when average Seagulls were all at sea, the occasional stormy petrel was a useful asset.

The second half was dominated by the mass despatch of the guilty and the innocent by Mr Buttimer. The fiasco began with Zayed jumping into Ray Kenny as they went up for the ball. Mr Buttimer, well adrift without a lifebelt, accordingly gave a free kick in Kildare’s favour. But his assistant on the far side had seen Kenny’s illegal use of the elbow on the Bray striker and flagged to draw the referee’s attention. It was then that Mr Buttimer made his first elementary mistake by turning his back on the players congregated in the centre circle and running half the width of the pitch to consult his colleague. The golden rule for referees in such circumstances is to keep the potential combatants in view; that’s why their training includes mastering the difficult craft of running backwards.

While Mr Buttimer’s back was turned Zayed, having picked himself up, ran back to exact retribution by jabbing his studs into the back of his assailant’s calf. I can think of more frightening experiences than being assaulted by Eamon Zayed but it was nevertheless a foolish act that should have added a red card to his weekend woes but all the officials were otherwise engaged. The assistant on the stand side was involved in racing into the centre circle to intervene in an affray sparked off by Charles and Ray Scully. By the time Mr Buttimer clambered aboard it was all over and the referee had seen nothing.

The consequences for Kildare were devastating. Courtesy of his assistant on the far side, Mr Buttimer sent off Ray Kenny; compliments of his assistant on the near side he despatched Wesley Charles and Philip Hughes, presumably the latter mistaken for Ray Scully. So the wrong number nine went to the dressing room.

There was little consolation in the official’s ability to recognise a giant West Indian in a storm.

It got worse for the home side. Right back Damien Brennan, having taken out Farrell with a crude challenge at the expense of a yellow card, was encouraged to repeat the error a couple of minutes later by Eddie Gormley, leaving the referee with no option but to add the Kildare man to those lost overboard.

The rest of the game resembled a kick-about on the deck of the Marie Celeste but, with priceless points at stake and Bray seemingly unable to convert numerical superiority into goals, Kildare still had reason for ambition. Bray found their raids constantly thwarted by the assistant’s flag for offside. This was partly due to the naiveté of Zayed, partly due to the pass to him not being released in time, partly due to the County defence stepping up but also by the official’s apparent compulsion to raise the flag. On the two occasions when Zayed’s runs survived sanction Murphy made fine saves, as keepers are prone to do if you hit the ball at them.

Kildare, with the gale now at their backs, failed to play to the conditions and constantly overhit long balls when ground passes from midfield might have caused Walsh more concern. Nevertheless there was an almost audible sigh of relief from the visiting supporters when, with five minutes remaining and the understaffed Kildare defence suffering from exposure, Zayed eventually converted McGuinness’s cross from close range, taking his season’s tally to eighteen. If the rest of his game matched his pace and technical ability he’d be fit to share the stage with Thierry Henry.

Stephen Fox sealed victory for the Seagulls with two minutes left, bypassing the offside law and the exhausted remnants of the County defence with a determined run.

But the defining moment came just before the final whistle when the lifeboat came for Eddie Gormley. The substitution was merely Devlin’s canny way of winding down the game's closing moments. Gormley, instinctively in tune with his manager’s intention, showed consummate acting skills in appearing not to see his number raised in the dugout, delaying his departure for the requisite moment before trudging across the pitch. As Michael Lawless replaced him I hope the youngster was aware that he was touching hands with a real pro.

Brian de Salvo


Bray Wanderers:
1 John Walsh; 4 Keith Long, 8 Graham O'Hanlon, 2 Colm Tresson, 5 Wesley Charles, 3 Maurice Farrell; 7 Robbie McGuinness, 6 Eddie Gormley (c), 10 Stephen Fox, 11 Ciaran Ryan; 9 Eamon Zayed

Subs: 13 Chris O'Connor (gk), 15 Michael Lawless (for Gormley 90), 16 Paul Forsyth (for Ryan ), 17 John Flood, 18 Kieran O'Brien

Kildare County:
1 Tadhg Murphy; 2 Damien Brennan, 5 Ray Kenny (c), 4 Ray Scully, 3 Gareth Cronin; 8 Shay Zellor, 6 Mark Kenny, 11 Shane Darcy, 7 Alan McNevin; 9 Philip Hughes, 10 John Ryan

Subs: 12 David Lane, 13 Darren Quigley (gk), 14 Peter Rogers (for Kenny 78), 15 Matt Britton, 16 Alan Kelly (for Darcy 58)

Referee: Anthony Buttimer

Great read and a fair account of the match, lets hope we don't meet in the play offs it could be WWIII:D

Wes Charles last night and he said the same. Delighted with the win but were gonna miss the big man now for a crunch game ! he's been outstanding all season long, Bray player of the year by a long long way !

I really hope Bray win the league
Keep the Harps and Dubs down

I hope we win it as well !!!!!! Harps have Limerick up next and we have Kilkenny, hopefully they can do us a favour like Sligo did.