City held Seaside by sturdy Seagulls

By Donncha Noonan | Photo: Kevin Barry Dorney

Off the back of a home win over Wexford, City hit the road as they travelled to Wicklow to take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds. It was a sluggish performance at times from City, who needed a Conor Drinan wonderstrike to grab a 1-1 draw.

Just the one change for Barry Robson’s side for this one, with Rory Feely dropping out of the squad, being replaced by Harry Nevin.

Paul Heffernan made three changes to his side that lost to Athlone last week. Jamie Duggan, Sean Brennan and Ryan Kelly all made way, with Benjamin Fagbemi, Tyreik Sammy and Dean O’Shea all coming in.

After a slow first fifteen minutes, it was Bray who had the first big chance of the game in the eighteenth minute. Darragh Crowley was dispossessed in midfield, which allowed Dean O’Shea to pick it up in midfield and slide a ball through to send Tyreik Sammy in on goal. He tried to guide it into the corner with his left foot, but he scuffed the chance and sent it well wide of the post.

City responded with a chance of their own four minutes later, this one being marginally close to an opener. Josh Fitzpatrick battled well to win the ball off of Aime Azende Nyembo on the right hand side. He cut inside on his left foot and wrapped a shot that cannoned off the bottom of the right hand post.

Bray’s good start finally paid off in a bizarre manner in the twenty-eighth minute. A sloppy pass from Harry Nevin was intercepted in midfield by Ben McCormack. He saw Conor Brann off his line and sent an effort over Brann’s head and off of the crossbar. Brann was stuck in goal, helpless as he watched Ifunanyachi Achara, despite starting fifteen yards behind both City centre-halves, reach the ball first to tap it into the back of the net.

That goal would be the last big action of the half as Bray found themselves a goal to the good against the league leaders at the break.

City started off the second half better than they did the first, and managed to snag an equaliser nine minutes in. Ben McCormack’s half clearance only landed at Fiacre Kelleher, who shifted it left to Conor Drinan. He took a touch, and curled an audacious effort into the top right corner from thirty yards to bring his side back level.

Bray were still active in a search for a winner, and came very near to finding it in the seventy-first minute. Ricard Ferizaj burst through the midfield before playing through Tyreik Sammy. He bore down on goal but only dragged his shot just wide of the far corner.

City kept digging trying to find the winner, and almost found it through their number nine. After a cleared ball out of the City defence, Seani Maguire picked it up and launched a ball over the Bray backline. It came to Ruairi Keating who tried to poke it past the oncoming Jimmy Corcoran, with the former City shot-stopper getting a crucial leg to the effort to prevent the goal.

The best chance of the game for the visitors came in the final seconds of the game. Cillian Murphy broke through the center of the park before sliding it right to Ruairi Keating. He pulled the ball across goal for Seani Maguire, who stretched for the ball, but only got a toe on it which wasn't enough to divert it goalwards. Matthew Murray came in at the back post too, but couldn't divert it towards goal and the ball rolled out of play.

And, after a dramatic last few minutes, the game came to an end as both sides came away with a point. Both sides started the first half very poorly, with the game not really getting going until the opener. After that, Bray were the better side, seeming very comfortable in letting City have the ball and batting away any approaches. Things unraveled a bit for them once the equaliser went in, as they had to open the game back up in search for a winner. City were probably the slightly better team in the last half an hour, but it just never seemed like they would grab that crucial goal.

My Man of the Match goes to Bray’s Benjamin Fagbemi. In only his second appearance of the season, Fagbemi was immense in the ray backline, causing problems for City’s usually prolific attack. In the air and on the ground, he was dominant and played a huge part in preventing City from getting any more than what they got.

City will look to get back to winning ways at home in the Cork derby, as they take on Cobh Ramblers. As for Bray, they’ll host Treaty United as they'll try to maintain that good performance.