Bray pay penalty for misses

A penalty in the 63rd minute from Kelvin Flanagan gave Cork City the three points and left Bray Wanderers to rue a host of missed chances on their return to the Premier Division.

Jason Kabia won the penalty when skipping in from the right past Phil Keogh before Colm Tresson took him down inside the area.

And, as against CSKA Kiev at Turner's Cross a fortnight ago, Flanagan made no mistake from the spot, sending Alan Kane the wrong way.

All told, it was tough on Bray who then lost skipper Anthony McKeever who was taken to hospital with a head cut following a clash with Kabia.

"Physically, Bray were up for it," said Cork manager Dave Barry. "It's always a battle here, that's the way it was when I was a player.

"After our long haul to the Ukraine and not playing well out there, I thought our character showed against Bray. Mentally and physically it was a battle. To get three points was an outstanding performance."

Bray were slightly the better side in the first-half with Jason Byrne heading over early on before he also brought a fine stop from Cork goalkeeper Noel Mooney.

Cork, with three changes from the side beaten in Kiev during the week, settled only gradually.

But when they did they looked dangerous and Bray keeper Kane make a good parry save from Gerry Dobbs on 27 minutes before making a superb reaction save to deprive Kabia's spectacular overhead kick nine minutes later.

Byrne should really have given Bray the lead within three minutes of the restart but made it a hat-trick of misses when shooting wide with only Mooney to beat.

You had to suspect that those misses were going to come back to haunt Bray and they did just that in the 63rd minute when Cork struck for the only goal of the game with Flanagan keeping his head to score from the spot.

Byrne, again, might have equalised within a minute when played through by Barry O'Connor, but Mooney reacted well to race from his line and make a smother save.

"It's going to be a long season," smiled Bray manager, Pat Devlin. Bray Wanderers: Kane; Lynch, Tresson, McKeever, (Parsons 76); P O'Brien, O'Connor, Smyth, Fox (K O'Brien 72), Keogh; Ryan (Connolly 83), Byrne. Cork City: Mooney; O'Halloran, Coughlan, Daly, Cronin; Flanagan, Hill, Herrick, Cahill; Kabia, Dobbs. Referee: J Casey (Waterford).