Harps denied by late equaliser

Given what had gone before, the greatest pity of all on Saturday evening at Tolka Park was that only half of the 8,000 supporters who had come to the first match returned for this Harp Lager FAI Cup final replay. Not that you could have blamed them but, if they watched this one at home on the box, they really must have been kicking themselves at the completion of the game.

Everybody had been predicting a more attractive show the second time around, and within minutes of the start it was obvious that that was what was going to happen. But in a contest that simply kept getting better right up until the 122nd minute, it seemed that nothing could quite prepare for what was coming next. And if nothing could prepare the rest of us, then spare a thought for the players, officials and supporters of Finn Harps as twice they gathered, ready to charge towards the main stand for the presentation of a trophy they last won a quarter of a century ago and twice Bray's bravery put them back in their seats.

"I suppose last week we felt we got out of jail a little, and today Bray will probably feel that way too," said Harps manager Charlie McGeever with admirable understatement. That he could talk at all just minutes after the final whistle was impressive in itself, for with three minutes of normal time remaining, and considerably less in extra time, his side had led.

In both cases they deserved the leads that Jonathon Speak and then Tom Mohan had provided, but in neither case could they hang on to it against a Wanderers side who clearly desperately did not want to be denied. First Barry O'Connor equalised in the 87th minute and then, after Colm Tresson's penalty had been saved by Brian McKenna at the very end of extra time, Ciaran O'Brien beat everyone to the loose ball to make it 2-2.

Their reward for the two last-ditch efforts is another replay, fixed, after discussions during the game, for Thursday evening - though with RTE talking about not televising it anyway, next Sunday looks like a more sensible option. Charlie McGeever reckoned afterwards Oriel Park would be a more reasonable venue.

Fresh from receiving his Manof-the-Match award, Harps midfielder Fergal Harkin was obviously still a little shell-shocked by what had just happened, but already his confidence was beginning to build towards the next encounter between the two clubs wherever and whenever it happens to take place.

"We're all gutted at the moment," he said, "because we dominated this game completely, but the thing is that we're professional enough to come back again and make sure of it. We've had so many replays already this season another one won't do us any harm. We'll win it on Thursday, I'm sure of that."

Neither he nor McGeever did much to cover up the fact that they should have won it this time. To have so much the better of a game and not be able to finish it off is frustrating, but to pass up the sort of chances that Jonathon Speak, who had earlier opened the scoring for Harps, had twice missed in extra time, and then have your normally inspirational captain concede a terrible penalty in an attempt to make up for a pretty basic error . . . well, you could be forgiven for starting to suspect that maybe it wasn't going to be your year after all.

And that's the message which Pat Devlin was keen to have us spread. "You all said that we'd missed our chance to win it last week, so I hope you'll be telling everybody that Harps did the same here today." He was enjoying the moment, for few people had given his side much hope of surviving this second game, especially if it was to be as open as this game was but, while they had found themselves under a good deal more pressure than last week, they hung in there thanks to collective determination, a few fine stops by John Walsh and more tactical tinkering than most managers manage to get in over the course of an average career.

"Yeah, we played two, three, four and five at the back at various stages," laughed Devlin, "and, to be honest, to keep on top of all that mentally and keep reacting to what is going on in the game is very draining. By the end I couldn't take much more of it, and I didn't even see the penalty. In fact, until we got back into the dressing-room I just thought Tresson had stuck it away."

Injuries to Maurice Farrell and Don Tierney are likely to mean changes for the second replay, but then one might have been forced upon him anyway with Barry O'Connor, who came on for Farrell just before half-time, probably having done enough to start next time around.

The former Shelbourne player, obviously upset to have ended up on the bench again this time, played a pivotal role from the time he arrived, scoring Bray's first from close range off a Philip Keogh cross and, after Jonathon Minnock had crossed and Tom Mohan restored the Harps advantage, he forced a fine stop from Brian McKenna. He then rounded off a fine afternoon by doing enough to prompt Boyle into tugging him from behind.

A week ago it was the sort of performance that might have provided O'Connor, the victim of misfortune on the two occasions that his previous clubs Shamrock Rovers and Cliftonville (he played only 10 games for Rovers in 1991 and missed the game with Glenavon two years ago due to injury) had made it to cup finals, with the fairytale ending he was dreaming of. As it was, in one of the season's most thrilling encounters it was enough only to give him, and Bray, a third crack at winning the silverware.

Bray Wanderers: Walsh; Tresson, Doohan, J Lynch, Farrell; Kenny, Tierney, Smith, Keogh; C O'Brien, Fox. Subs: Brien for Tierney (27 mins), O'Connor for Farrell (40 mins), Byrne for Smith (68 mins).

Finn Harps: McKenna; Scanlon, D Boyle, Dykes, Minnock; Mohan, Harkin, O'Brien, McGrenaghan; Speak, Mulligan. Subs: Bradley for Harkin (108 mins), Sheridan for Speak (112 mins), McGettigan for Mohan (116 mins).

Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).