Bray Vs. Kilkenny Match Report

This was a preliminary, in the script. The expectations of the fans called for elimination, no sooner than the semi-final if possible, but in any case by either the usual old nemesis in a replay, or to a Jason Byrne hat-trick.

That was the script. But Ger Bickerstaffe mustn't have got his copy - and perhaps some of the Bray squad weren't at the final drafting session.

Some of them certainly weren't at the match against Kilkenny, when the Cats played football, especially in the second half, and Bray seemed less than interested in the whole affair.

The first significant action involved a Wesley Charles defensive tackle conceding a corner, and though Maurice Farrell cleared well from Alan Mulcahy's dead-ball, it was a sign of things to come: the home team on the back foot, and the opposition in their area.

Mark Andrews spent almost four minutes receiving attention for what appeared to be an injury to his hand received when he fell heavily in the process of tackling John Flood.

Just over a quarter of an hour in, Flood had Bray's best chance of the half, when he was well-placed to receive a cross from Stephen Gifford after the latter's one-two with Kieran 'Tarzan' O'Brien, but his header lacked conviction and Tadhg Murphy had little trouble with it.

A minute later, Mulcahy's 20m free curled round the wall and needed to be dealt with, but was cleared only as far as Martin Cummins who skied it from an ambitious 35m distance.

And Mulcahy was up in the Bray corner within seconds again when Brian Mallon put the ball out off Charles, but his short ball was eventually cleared by a free out for pushing on Colm Tresson.

Both teams seemed to be indulging in shape-changing, with Kilkenny playing a felxible middle-to-back formation, Andy Cosgrave drifting to make a five-striong back line when needed, and Bray pushing Colm James up front to create a 3-4-3 pattern when going forward.

Jody Lynch headed wide from a Robbie McGuinness free almost on the left sideline, and another from 22m was punched away single-handed by Murphy to where Charles was lurking, but he slipped when turning to attack, and the ball was cleared out of his reach.

With five minutes to go, Philip Gorman delivered a fine cross into the box which bypassed Charles in the air, and Chris O'Connor did well to push it out wide. There, however, it was picked up by the Kilkenny attack, and when it was crossed in by John Shanahan, Mulcahy dived low to head past the Bray keeper.

Not in the script at all.

In the final minute of normal time in the first half, Bray had their first corner of the game, but McGuinness's shot was headed clear, and the visitors had the last of the action in time added with another Mulcahy dead-ball on the Bray left.

Kilkenny had been more alert to the ball throughout, robbing the slower Bray players from both head and foot, and it seemed that Bray hadn't taken account of their height, as they tried to play the ball over the top for O'Brien, who was being marked by the taller Cummins. Tarzan did his best, but miracles take a little longer.

Bray seemed to have shaken themselves awake after the restart, and looked the livelier of the two for a time. Flood had a powerful shot from the edge of the box blocked by Murphy's reaction dive, and Gifford won a 25m free on the right, but McGuinness's effort was well cleared, Damien Coogan racing forward to meet it and blaze over.

Coogan was cautioned for a challenge on Colm James, just after Gifford had needed attention.

Defender Charles was up in the action combining well with Flood for a move that looked threatening, but the striker hesitated too long, and there was no way through by the time he kicked.

Bray had a couple of frees in the middle of the pitch, but too far away to provide openings, and then the second shoe dropped.

O'Connor could only parry Coogan's rocket, and did well to achieve even that, but Gorman had raced up again to follow-up, and had only to side-foot into an empty net.

By now the script was well and truly abandoned, and the substitutions immediately after that by Bray boss Pat Devlin seemed intended to write a new one. Eddie Gormley coming on for James was an obvious attempt to add cunning to the midfield, while in inserting the relatively untried Barry McGrory he appeared to be trying to inject a little more pace into the attack.

Mulcahy had another shot over before Flood won Bray's second corner of the night, but Charles headed McGuinness's effot at Murphy, who also gratefully received Gormley's free a minute later.

A second Gormley effort from the centre circle has headed on by Charles, and Murphy need to attempts to gather O'Brien's shot, while the defender was back in position a minute later to clear what seemed like a certain third goal when Neill Andrews pounced on a long cross-field ball from Gorman.

O'Brien volleyed over when McGuinness headed on a Jody Lynch free from half-way, and the aptly-named Kilkenny substitute Alan Rockett saw his shot blaze wide after Neill Andrews had squared for him.

With less than twenty minutes to go, Paul O'Reilly crossed neatly into the box where he had a choice of three Bray players waiting, but referee Paul Tuite judged that the keeper had been hindered.

Flood topped his shot with space to aim at when O'Brien laid the ball off for him, and O'Brien was unlucky a moment later when a long ball over the top by Charles out of defence found him squeezing between defenders, but he couldn't control the glancing touch he got with his toe, and Murphy had time to gather.

Shanahan joined in the forward action with five minutes left, and saw his 30m shot go over O'Connor's bar, while Mulcahy was in action in the Bray corner again, taking the kick short, but the follow-up was forced out for a goal-kick.

McGrory seemed well-placed for another long ball, but the flag went up for a hotly disputed off-side.

O'Brien had another shot over in added time, and a further McGuinness corner was well defended before Gorman had the last action of the tie, heading to O'Connor as the whistle went.

That the Bray boss was less than happy with the performance of the team was evident in his less than tactful attempt while the game was still in progress to debate the matter with an irate fan.

But then, tact was never the characteristic most likely to fire up a team and bring out a Cup performance.

Whatever that was, it was Bickerstaffe who employed it to better effect, and Bray can now, as they usually say ruefully in such circumstances, concentrate on the League.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers:
1 Chris O'Connor; 11 Stephen Gifford, 5 Wesley Charles, 4 Jody Lynch, 3 Maurice Farrell; 8 Keith Long, 6 Colm Tresson, 7 Robbie McGuinness, 2 Colm Tresson; 10 John Flood, 9 Kieran O'Brien

Subs: 12 Eddie Gormley (for James 60), 14 Paul O'Reilly (for Long 65), 15 Matt Britton, 16 Michael Lawless, 17 Barry McGrory (for Gifford 60)

Kilkenny City: ]
1 Tadhg Murphy; 5 Peter Curran, 6 Martin Cummins, 3 John Shanahan, 4 Mark Andrews; 2 Andy Cosgrave, 7 Damien Coogan, 8 Brian Mallon, 11 Alan Mulcahy; 9 Philip Gorman, 10 Neill Andrews

Subs: 12 Ronan Stanley (for Mulcahy 90+4), 13 Alan Rockett (for Mallon 65), 14 Alan Delahunty, 15 Martin Redmond, 19 David O'Neill (gk)

Referee: Paul Tuite

http://www.braywanderers.ie/reports.php?game=316