Bray Wanderers left to rue missed chances as Longford earn a hard-fought point at the Carlisle Grounds thanks to Dean George’s goal early in the second half
Bray Wanderers 1
Longford Town 1
Bray dominated possession in the opening ten minutes, with Billy O’Neill and Tyreik Sammy offering a massive threat down the wings.
5 minutes in, a left-footed dink from Cian Doyle in midfield found Richard Ferizaj running into the box, who flicked the ball over Cole Omorehiomwan to Dan Ring. Ring faked a shot before spreading the ball out to Billy O’Neill on the right wing, who smashed a low ball across the face of the goal but failed to find a man to tap it in.
At the eleven-minute mark, a fantastic over-the-top ball from Cian Doyle left Billy O’Neill at the endline on the right wing, who was able to play a grounded cut-back pass into Richard Ferizaj, who calmly slotted past Cian Moore into the bottom left corner.
Ferizaj nets his third goal for the Seagulls since signing for the club last season.
Wing play dictated the opening 30 minutes of the match, with the Billy O’Neill and Osaze Irhue match-up in particular being tightly contested down the right flank. Long balls requiring physicality and aerial prowess became the catalyst for moves on both sides.
At the 23rd minute mark, Longford would create one of their best opportunities of the match thanks to a fantastic through pass by Andy Paraschiv to Andy Doran, who found Daragh Murtagh with a slick cutback into the box. Murtagh forced a good save from Jimmy Corcoran, who parried the ball out to Dean George, who sent the ball over the bar from within the 6-yard box after former Longford Town captain Dean O’Shea applied a mountain of pressure on the shot.
Longford would win 4 corners in the first half, with none coming to fruition thanks to slick movement by Jimmy Corcoran around his 6-yard box and several clearances from the likes of Declan Osagie.
Few clear-cut chances for either side left Wayne Groves’ side with the belief that the game was still there for the taking at a rowdy Carlisle Grounds in the second half.
And they would equalise mere seconds into the half to capitalise on a sleepy Bray defence. Irhue would skip past Alain Kizenga on the left flank and play a dangerous low ball into the box which was smashed into the roof of the net by Dean George, who nipped right in front of Dean O’Shea to give Longford a perfect start to the second half, only 43 seconds in.
Bray would seek a near-immediate response; only seven minutes later, through a neatly worked corner routine, O’Shea would find Sammy short, who gave a quick pass back to O’Shea; he would whip a ball into the back post just narrowly missing the heads of Jamie Duggan and Declan Osagie.
In the 61st minute, Paul Heffernan would seek to shake things up in attack to apply more pressure on Longford’s defence and to gain control back in the match with a triple substitution, seeing three debutants make their way on the field with Ifunanyachi Achara, Ryan Kelly and Nyembo Azende entering the squad.
Bray would be unable to seize a golden opportunity to score in the 76th minute thanks to a heroic goal-line clearance from Alex O’Brien. A wicked bounce off Longford legs in defence left Achara through on goal, who dribbled around Kian Moore before placing a low-driven shot which O’Brien was able to slide to and spectacularly keep Longford on level terms.
Only a few minutes later, Billy O’Neill’s deflected long-range free kick would force a quality save out of Kian Moore, with the following Achara unable to pick out a man after reaching the ball on the end line.
Ifunanyachi Achara would get a golden chance to win the game on the 84th minute mark. A long ball forced Conor Errity into a misplaced back header, which fell right into the path of a speedy Achara, who attempted to dink the ball over the head of Kian Moore but failed to control his shot, with the ball flailing over the bar.
Man of the Match: Billy O’Neill, who constantly caused issues down the right flank, including his slick assist for Bray’s opener. Had a fantastic 1-on-1 battle with Irhue, who came a close second for my MOTM with his positive forward play. Billy’s set-piece accumen and general composure on the ball gave him the edge for me.
Bray Wanderers: Jimmy Corcoran; Alain Kizenga, Declan Osagie, Jamie Duggan, Dean O’Shea; Sean Brennan; Billy O’Neill, Richard Ferizaj, Cian Doyle, Tyreik Sammy; Daniel Ring.
Bray Subs: Ryan Kelly for Tyreik Sammy (61), Aime Azende Nyembo for Sean Brennan (61), Ifunanyachi Achara for Daniel Ring (61), Ethan Cheese for Richard Ferizaj (85).
Longford Town: Kian Moore; Alex O’Brien, Cole Omorehiomwan, Conor Errity, Osaze Irhue; Sean Moore, Pharrell Manual; Dean George, Aaron Doran, Andy Paraschiv; Daragh Murtagh.
Longford Subs: Francis Campbell for Dean George (71), Stefan Ugbesia for Andy Doran (71), Kyle Robinson for Daragh Murtagh (79), Kobichidi Ndebumadu for Andy Paraschiv (79).