United dominated by rampant Bray E
Written by Daire Walsh
Bray Wanderers 4
Galway United 0
Galway United had a day to forget as they were comprehensively defeated by a pumped up Bray Wanderers side in the Carlisle Grounds, which brought their five-match unbeaten run to an abrupt end.
Going into this fixture, Galway had not been beaten in their previous 12 encounters against the Wicklow outfit, and it was looking quite even early on, as Stephen O’Donnell and Karl Sheppard were giving their opponents plenty to worry about.
They found themselves trailing on 36 minutes though, when winger Jake Kelly coolly dispatched a penalty past Barry Ryan, after Kelly himself had been fouled by Seamus Conneely.
This meant that Galway went into the second-half facing a 0-1 deficit, but things would get worse for them after the break, as the elusive Kelly set-up Gary Shaw for The Seagulls’ second goal of the evening on 59 minutes.
This really put it up to The Tribesmen heading into the final half-hour, and the game was put well beyond their reach with 15 minutes remaining when Dean Zambra shot home from close range after another pin-point cross by Kelly.
Kelly proved to be a real thorn in the side of Galway all evening, and he rounded off a terrific display with an excellent close-range finish on 84 minutes, which proved to be the last meaningful action of a game where Bray were deserving winners.
Bray Wanderers: Gregg; Webster, S O’Connor, Prendergast, Houston; Zambra, Dempsey (Mitchell, 86), D O’Connor, Kelly (Massey, 86); Shaw (Mulroy, 82), Shields.
Galway Utd: Ryan; Conneely, Reilly, McKenzie (Preston-Kelly, 61), Walsh; King (Cheevers, 64), Curran, O’Donnell, O’Brien; Molloy (Keogh, 76), Sheppard.
Referee: T Connolly (Dublin).