Bray Wanderers 1 Finn Harps 1
Nothing but pride in performance for these two teams from this fixture at the Carlisle Grounds in what were very wet and windy conditions. Harps gave a senior debut to young goalkeeper Oisín Cooney and included Max Hutchinson and Sean O Donnell in starting line-up, in place of Ryan Flood and B J Banda.
Harps had the elements in their favour in the opening half but Debutant Cooney had to make a good early save from Chris Lyons. The visitors settled and applied some pressure which saw Tony McNamee go close and in the 25th minute Matty Makinson gave Harps the lead when they worked a short corner and McNamee’slow cross set the big defender up to slot low to the net, 0-1 to Harps.
Five minutes later Tony McNamee shot over following another corner as Bray were finding the going tough against the elements. In the 39th minute Noe Baba was denied by an excellent save by Matt Conner, the keeper turning Baba’s shot from 12 yards around the post. Max Murphy and Conor Knight combined to create a Bray chance but the flashed across the box eluding everyone. At the break Harps led 0-1 with the elements to face in the second-half. Sixteen minutes into the half Bray were awarded a penalty when Noe Baba brought down Chris Lyons and the striker sent keeper Cooney the wrong way from spot, 1-1.
Bray made three changes at half-time including former Harps captain Davie Webster and later Billy O Neill became their youngest ever first team player at 15 years and 222 days when introduced in the 84th minute.
There was not much to report from the second-half in terms of chances as the game fizzled out and the points were shared as it ended 1-1.
The end of what has been a very disappointing season for Finn Harps who started with a new manager but end it looking for another one, as they finished just one spot ahead of bottom team Kerry FC.
Wanderers: Matthew Connor; Max Murphy, Jack Hudson( Dave Webster h/t), Cole Omorehiomwan, Dane Massey; Guillermo Almirall ( Daniel Chukwu (h-t), Harry Groome, Darren Craven; Conor Knight( Alain Kizenga(h/t), Chris Lyons (Billy O Neill 84mins), Callum Thompson.
Subs: Conor Crowley, Yoyo Mahdy, Len O’Sullivan, Conor Davis, Alex Moody, Thomas Morgan.
Finn Harps: Oisin Cooney, Noe Baba, Matthew Makinson, Kevin Jordan, Jamie Watson, Ryan Rainey ( B J Banda 80mins),, Tony McNamee, Max Hutchinson, Stephen Doherty, Sean O Donnell, Aaron McLaughlin.
Referee ; Daryl Carolan.
Harps end season with dull draw in Bray was last modified: October 21st, 2023 by