Match Report - Bray Wanderes v Athlone Town First Division Play-off Final

Posted on 3rd November 2024 at 19:16

Bray Wanderers 2 Athlone Town 2 (After Extra Time)

(Bray win 4-2 on penalties)

Amid dramatic scenes at Dalymount Park, Bray emerged victorious in the SSE Airtricity First Division Play-Off Final after a penalty shoot-out.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Corcoran saved two spot-kick’s while Shane Griffin, Darren Craven and Cristian Magerusan all converted from 12-yards before John O’Sullivan slotted in the winning penalty.

With the Midlanders 2-0 up after 24 minutes on Saturday afternoon, the Seagulls were buoyed on by the majority of the 1,872 in attendance at the Phibsborough venue.

The Green and White’s pulled one back through an own goal midway through the second half.

Then Cole Omorehiomwan headed in an injury time equaliser to spark wild celebrations in the Wicklow club’s camp.

Half an hour of extra time then failed to separate the sides before Wanderers won the shoot-out 4-2.

With right-back Max Murphy suspended, and Kieran Cruise ruled out to injury, there were two changes to the starting line-up from the Semi Final victory over UCD.

Jamie Duggan came in at right-full with Evan Osam, making his first appearance since last May, starting at left-back.

With Paul Murphy also banned, there were two changes on the bench as Alain Kizenga and Philip Cooney joinied the substitutes.

The ‘Town took an 11th lead.

Klye Robinson’s corner from the right left-footed was cleared back to him. His second delivery picked out Dean Ebbe who guided in a glancing header.

Bray lost Osam to injury on the quarter hour. Conor Knight came on with Guillermo Almirall dropping to left-full.

But the Westmeath outfit doubled their advantage in the 23rd minute.

Robinson whipped over another corner left-footed from the right. It dropped at the back post were German Fuentes Rodriguez steered in a close range header.

Ben Feeney was sprung from the bench during the interval in place of Almirall. It also saw the Green and White’s made several positional changes.

With Griffin dropping back to central midfield alongside Harry Groome, O’Sullivan moved to left-back. Conor Knight came over to the left-wing with Craven switching to the right wing.

The comeback began in the 63rd minute.

Conor Knight burst from wide right channel towards the middle of the box. He fed Griffin who span off a tackle to roll the ball onto the breaking Knight.

Blocked off on the left of the penalty area, he laid the ball back to O’Sullivan. He drilled a left-footed cross-shot that Dlyan Hand diverted into the roof of his own net in off the underside of the crossbar.

With the match two minutes into time added on, Wanderers tied the final at 2-2.

Duggan cut-out a clearance. He dropped a cross from the right to the back post. Omorehiomwan rose past Magerusan to guide in a brilliant downward header to the net - which saw the ground erupt.

After the half hour extra time stale-mate, Corcoran dived to his right to parry out Aaron Connolly’s dead-ball effort at the start of the penalties.

Griffin, Craven and Magerusan all netted from their attempts while Brian Torre and former Seagull Daniel McKenna scored from their spot-kicks for Athlone.

However, Corcoran saved Amardo Akeem Oakley’s penalty which set up O’Sullivan to squeeze his 12-yarder past former Wanderer Enda Minogue to the joy of the huge Bray faithful.

Bray Wanderers: Jimmy Corcoran; Jamie Duggan, Kilian Cantwell, Cole Omorehiomwan, Evan Osam (Conor Knight 15 - Alain Kizenga107); Guillermo Almirall (Ben Feeney half time), Darren Craven, Harry Groome (Billy O’Neill 79, John O’Sullivan; Shane Griffin; Cristian Magerusan.

Subs not used: Philip Cooney, Josh McGlone, Rhys Knight, Stephen McGuinness.

Booked: Omorehiomwan 83, O’Neill 86, Ryan Hannon 86.

Athlone Town: Enda Minogue; Amardo Akeem Oakley, German Fuentes Rodriguez, Dylan Hand, Brian Torre; Aaron Connolly, Dan McKenna; Kyle Robinson (Shane Forbes 69), Leo Gaxha (Agbo Babatunde 69), Gideon Tetteh (Jamar Campion-Hinds 80); Dean Ebbe (Peter McGregor 79).

Subs not used: Michael McHugh, Mark Huynh, Roscoe Rubinstein, Kyle Martin-Conway, Andrew Stuart Trainor.

Booked: Gaxha 9, Tetteh 57, McKenna 87, Hand 93.

Referee: Marc Lynch (Galway).

Pictures: Tyler Miller (Sportsfile)..