Bray Wanderers F.C.

Bray Wanderers

Full name	Bray Wanderers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Seagulls
Founded	1942
Ground	Carlisle Grounds Bray County Wicklow
Ground Capacity	7,000 (3,185 seated)
Manager	Harry Kenny
League	League of Ireland Premier Division
2016	League of Ireland Premier Division, 6th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Bray Wanderers Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as Bray Wanderers A.F.C. It was elected to the League in 1985, and plays its home matches at the Carlisle Grounds. Club colours are Green and White, and it goes by the nickname Seagulls.

History

Early Days

In 1922, some members of St Kevin's Gaelic football club in Bray left the club as a result of a dispute and formed a soccer club called Bray Wanderers. They won the Miller Cup, which at the time was one of the most prestigious junior cups in the country, in 1927–28. Through the 1930s and 1940s, however, Bray Unknowns were the leading team in the town, playing in the League of Ireland for nineteen seasons from 1924–25 to 1942–43. Bray Wanderers went into decline in the mid-thirties but was reformed in 1942–43 and entered the Athletic Union League Division 3 for the 1943–44 season. By the 1948–49 season Wanderers had reached Division 1 of the AUL but the period in between did not pass without controversy. In 1944 the club reached the Leinster Football Association Shield final but was disqualified for fielding an illegal player in the semi-final. When in Division 2 of the AUL in 1946–47 the club was expelled from the league due to the B team not fulfilling a league fixture, although the club was reinstated the following season. In 1950–51 Wanderers won the FAI Junior Cup, defeating Drogheda United 2–1. Wanderers also reached the Leinster Junior Final that season, but were defeated by Rathfarnham in the final. Wanderers won the Junior Cup again in 1953–54, defeating Ierne 1–0 in the Final. The following season Wanderers left the AUL and joined the Leinster Senior League

Mid 1900s

In 1955–56 Wanderers won the FAI Intermediate Cup, defeating Workmens Club 2–1 in the final. There was also a first appearance in the FAI Cup against Longford Town in 1956. They won the FAI Intermediate Cup again two years later, defeating Chapelizod 2–1 in the final. In 1958–59, Wanderers clinched the Leinster Senior League , setting a new club and LSL record for the highest number of goals scored in a season. They went on to win three league titles in a row. In 1960–61 Wanderers withdrew from the LSL and returned to the AUL. In 1964–65 they were founder members of the League of Ireland B Division.^[1] However they left after just one season and once again went into decline. By 1973 Bray Unknowns were playing in the LSL and the management changed the name to Bray Wanderers in a partially successful effort to amalgamate the two. In 1975–76 the new Wanderers won the Metropolitan Cup for the first time since 1924.

League of Ireland

Bray Wanderers were elected to the League of Ireland when it was expanded to two Divisions for the 1985–86 season. They played their first game as a League of Ireland club on 8 September 1985 in a FAI League Cup match against Dundalk with Jim Mahon having the honour of notching the Seagulls' first goal at senior level. The Wanderers' secured promotion to the Premier Division by winning the League of Ireland First Division Championship that year. They were relegated back down to the First Division in the 1987–88 season. Wanderers did not regain Premier Division status until the 1990–91 season but had their first major success during their spell in the First Division. They won the FAI Cup in 1990 beating St. Francis 3–0 in the first Lansdowne Road final with John Ryan becoming only the second player to score a hat-trick in a FAI Cup final. They made history by becoming the first ever First Division side to win the trophy. Due to this success, Wanderers competed in European competition for the first time in their history in the 1990–91 season. They were defeated, however, by Trabzonspor in the European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round.

Bray continued to have difficulty achieving success in the league. After two seasons in the Premier Division the club was once again relegated to the First Division where they remained for three seasons. In 1995–96 season Wanderers were promoted back to the Premier Division as First Division champions, but were relegated back down in the following season. The next two seasons followed the same script as they went back up and came straight back down. In 1998–99, a season they got relegated again, Wanderers won their second FAI Cup, defeating Finn Harps after two replays which earned them a spot in the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup against a Roy Hodgson led Grasshoppers.

In 1999–00 the club won promotion back to the Premier Division and in 2000–01 Wanderers achieved their highest ever league finish of 4th place in the Premier Division. The club could not build on this as they were relegated back down in 2002–03 but were once again promoted in 2004. The club was relegated at the end of the 2009 season, but the demise of Cork City meant they were reinstated to the Premier Division. Finishing in a Promotion/Relegation play-off in 2010, the club maintained its Premier status following a penalty shoot-out with Monaghan United.

The following season, finishing sixth in the Premier Division, the club gained a place in the all-Ireland Setanta Cup, but early in 2012 conceded home and away matches to Glentoran FC in the first round of the competition (2–4 & 0–3).

In the 2012 season, Bray finished tenth of 12 clubs in the Premier Division, five points above Dundalk, who had to survive a Promotion/Relegation battle against Waterford United to ensure their survival in the top flight.

In 2013, Bray were again in the relegation mix, and having finished second-last they played First Division promotion play-off winners Longford Town over two legs, winning 5–4 on aggregate, with goals from Jason Byrne (2), Gary Dempsey, Kieran "Marty" Waters and Kevin O'Connor.

On 10 January 2014 it was announced that Alan Mathews would be the new manager with Barry O'Connor as his assistant. The club ended the season in tenth place, just a point above UCD, and entered the 2015 season as the fourth-longest surviving current Premier Division club.

However, on 1 April 2015, Mathews resigned suddenly, together with the rest of his backroom team, citing a breakdown in communication with the club's new owners, the O'Connors who had taken over during the off-season.^[2] The club appointed Under-19 coach Maciej Tarnogrodzki as interim senior team manager the following day.^{[3] [4]} The following month, the club announced that former Shamrock Rovers boss Trevor Croly had signed a three-year contract to manage the club.^{[5] [6]}

Just one month later however, Croly also resigned in a similar fashion to Mathews before him. Mick Cooke was brought in to replace him as the fifth manager of the season (including temporary Player/Manager David Cassidy), and Bray finished the 2015 season in 8th position.

Supporters

Bray Wanderers have a small but loyal fanbase, with regular attendances generally around the 1,000 mark. For away matches the Bray Wanderers Supporters Club organises a bus to run direct to the relevant ground.

In March 2008, the Ultra group of Bray Wanderers fans "Na Fánaithe" was formed by five Supporters Club members. Unlike Ultra groups in Dublin such as "Briogáid Dearg", "SRFC Ultras", "Shed End Invincibles" and "Notorious Boo Boys", Na Fánaithe is a much smaller group, compared to the hundreds involved in those Ultra groups.

Honours

• FAI Cup: 2
  • 1990, 1999
• League of Ireland First Division: 3
  • 1985–86, 1995–96, 1999–2000
• League of Ireland First Division Shield: 1
  • 1995–96
• Leinster Senior League: 3
  • 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60
• FAI Intermediate Cup: 2
  • 1955–56, 1957–58
• FAI Junior Cup: 2
  • 1950–51, 1953–54
• Enda McGuill Cup: 1
  • 2005

Source: ^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Records

• Record Victory: 7–0 v Cobh Ramblers 17 October 1997, 7–0 v St. Mochta's 2007 FAI Cup, 17 June 2007
• Record League Defeat: 8–1 v Dundalk FC 04 May 2015
• Most Points in a Season: 72 in 1999–00
• Most League Goals in a Season: 19, Eamon Zayed, 2003
• Most League Goals: 72, Jason Byrne 1998–03, 2012–13

European record

UEFA Cup:

Cup Winners Cup:

Overall:

Past opponents

Season	Competition	Country	Team	Score
1990–91	Cup Winners Cup Qualifying Match	Turkey	Trabzonspor	1–1, 0–2 (1–3 agg.)
1999–00	UEFA Cup Qualifying round	Switzerland	Grasshoppers	0–4, 0–4 (0–8 agg.)

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Peter Cherrie 2 DF Hugh Douglas 3 MF John Sullivan 4 DF Conor Kenna (captain) 5 DF Alan McNally 7 MF Ryan Brennan 8 MF Mark Salmon 9 FW Dean Kelly 10 MF Karl Moore 11 DF Jason Marks 12 MF Conor Earley 13 MF Daniel Blackbyrne

No. Position Player 14 DF Paul Murphy 16 MF Dylan Connolly 17 FW Ger Pender 19 MF Kevin Lynch 20 DF Paul Finnegan 21 DF Tim Clancy 22 MF Darragh Noone 23 FW Gareth McDonagh 24 DF Seán Harding 25 DF Mick Daly 40 GK Lee Steacy TBA MF Keith Buckley

Technical Staff

Managers

Dates	Name	Notes
July 1985 – Dec 90	Pat Devlin	League of Ireland First Division Champions 1985–86, FAI Cup Winners 1990
Dec 1990 – March 95	John Holmes	First Division Runner-up 1990–91
March 1995 – Aug 05	Pat Devlin	First Division Champions 1995–96, 1999–00, FAI Cup Winners 1999, First Division Runner-up 1997–98, 2003
Aug 2005 – Oct 05	Tony McGuirk[12]
Oct 2005 – May 10, 2006	Pat Devlin
May 10, 2006 – Sept 26, 2006	Tony McGuirk[13]
Sept 27, 2006 – Aug 9, 2010	Eddie Gormley
Aug 10, 2010 – Dec 2011	Pat Devlin[14]
Dec 1, 2011 – Sept 15, 2012	Keith Long
Sept 16, 2012 – Dec 31, 2012	Eddie Gormley[15]
Jan 1, 2012 – Dec 2013	Pat Devlin
Jan 10, 2014 – Apr 1, 2015	Alan Mathews
Caretaker Apr 2, 2015 – May 6, 2015	Maciej Tarnogrodzki
May 11, 2015 – July 3, 2015	Trevor Croly
Jul 7, 2015–April 2016	Mick Cooke

See also

• Carlisle Grounds

Notes

References

• Bray Wanderers A.F.C. – a brief history, compiled by Michael Duffy incorporating material by Jim Tobin; updated 2006 by Mícheál Ó hUanacháin
• Club profile on Airtricity League site
• Republic of Ireland historical League Tables 1921/2-2006 by Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

External links

• Bray Wanderers AFC Website