WATERS SINKS SAINTS LATE ON
St Pat’s Ath 0 Bray Wdrs 1
Kieran ‘Marty’ Waters was the hero for Bray Wanderers in Richmond Park last night, as his 87th minute goal gave the Wicklow men a vital victory in their battle against the drop.
They claimed the points following an ill-tempered clash with St Patrick’s Athletic, which saw three players sent-off in the second half.
Bray started well but Pat’s went agonisingly close to taking the lead with 23 minutes gone on the clock, when Sean O’Connor’s powerful left-footed strike flew just wide.
The Seagulls lost both Dean Zambra and Adam Mitchell to injury before half-time, but went in level and held their own after the break.
It did need a great save on 53 minutes from Bray keeper Darren Quigley, though, to keep it level as he tipped O’Connor’s 25-yard onto the bar.
Drifted
Yet on 63 minutes, Jason Byrne turned well just outside the Pat’s area, and hit a shot that drifted just wide.
Soon after tempers started to boil over to a massive degree and after an off-the-ball incident with O’Connor, veteran Byrne was shown a straight red card.
A major melee developed following Byrne’s dismissal and Pat’s winger Darren Meenan was also dismissed.
With six minutes left Pat’s went down to nine after Kenny Browne got a second yellow for a foul on
Waters.
And it was Waters who fired the only goal past Brendan Clarke with three minutes left to give Bray a priceless win.
ST PAT’S: Clarke 7; O’Brien 7, Browne 7, Kenna 6, Carroll 6; Chambers 7, Bolger, Coombes 7 (Kelly 90); Meenan 6, Fagan 7, O’Connor 7 (Flood 79, 6). Subs not used: Murphy, Flynn, Price, Bermingham, Faherty.
BRAY: Quigley 7; S O’Connor 7 (Doyle 68, 6), Mitchell 7 (Webster 42, 7), D O’Connor 7, Massey 7; K O’Connor 6, Mulroy 7, Houston 7; Waters 8, Zambra 6 (Marshall 34); Byrne 6. Subs not used: Dixon, Akinade, Kane, King, Marshall.
REFEREE: Padraig Sutton (Clare).
WEATHER: Mild And Dry.
ATT: 1,105.