For the most part it was about as easy on the eye as a pantomime ugly sister but if Pat Devlin cared about the aesthetics of his side's progression to the quarterfinals of this season's FAI Cup it wasn't showing.

The game had been played in something approaching a blizzard, which might have favoured the home team by reducing the entire affair to a lottery. Unfortunately for Dermot Finnan's side, though, Bray got the best of the wind and rain in the first half when both were at their backs.

When the two sides turned around Rangers were only a goal down and clearly fancied their chances of overhauling the holders. But as the conditions steadily improved during the second half, the Limerick's side hopes also dwindled. In the end Wanderers more or less wrapped up their win 20 minutes into the second period after which the underdogs had their moments without ever seriously threatening. "I think it all caught up on the players, having kept it to one goal in the first half," said Rangers's manager Finnan afterwards. "They were probably a bit too proud to go out there and win it in the second half with the breeze at their backs.

"I tried to tell them that Bray were a good team, although I don't think they actually created too much against us this afternoon. But I think they discovered it for themselves later on when the Bray lads were a little too sharp for us, particularly in the last 20 minutes or so when you could see them brushing us off the ball all the time."

Wanderers certainly produced the more composed football of the game over those closing stages. By then, however, the nervousness that had shown through the first period had long gone as close-range goals from Philip Keogh after 21 minutes and Barry O'Connor (69 minutes) had more or less killed off the spirited but limited challenge of the home side. Despite seeing his side take the lead through Keogh early on, Devlin admitted that he had still been a "very distressed and unhappy man" at half time. The second half, which he said had been inspired by Ciaran Ryan's neat midfield run only moments after he had entered the game, settled his side and made fairly safe the game's outcome.

"At the end I was very pleased because to come here and play in these conditions was a very difficult test for us and although we were carrying five or six players in the first half, we've ended up coming through it very well.

"All credit to them, though," he added. "For stretches they were quicker than us to every ball, the conditions were just as tough for them and from the way they coped with them it was easy to see how they keep winning Junior Cups."

While the Rangers players plainly showed the desire to take the game to their opponents, however, they simply lacked the technical tools to make much of the substantial proportion of the ball which broke to them.

Up front Jimmy Sheehan's hustling and bustling proved quite a handful for Mick Doohan and Colm Tresson but it wasn't until after the break, when he started to have somebody to win and hold up the ball for him, that there was any chance of his efforts amounting to anything.

As the home side's sense of urgency increased Kevin McCarthy and Jason Purcell lent more and more support to the search for a goal but it wasn't until three minutes from time that they came close to making a breakthrough. On that occasion Purcell's strike beat John Grace only to clip the wrong side of the crossbar.

Had the injured Barry Ryan been involved, Finnan's side might have fared a little better near their opposition's area but in every other department the simple fact was that the gap was too great for the Limerickmen to bridge.

Fairview Rangers: Lynch; Philip Purcell, Pat Purcell, J Purcell, Hannon, Buckley; Collopy, McCarthy, Phelan, Lipper; Sheehan. Subs: Kelly for Lipper (70 mins), O'Donnell for Buckley (83 mins).

Bray Wanderers: Walsh; Gifford, Doohan, Tresson, Farrell; P O'Brien, Dodd, A Byrne, Keogh; B O'Connor, Byrne. Subs: Ryan for Dodd (68 mins), O'Connell for O'Brien (83 mins).

Referee: D O'Hanlon (Waterford).