After biblical weather affected play in Mounthawk Park, ten man Kerry were defeated by Bray Wanderers after four second half goals within seven minutes saw the Seagulls leave 3-2 winners.

Play was halted due to a hail shower followed by thunder and lightning which was deemed unsafe for the players to play through after just fifteen minutes of the tie, but the chaotic events would only continue on the pitch afterwards. 

Just minutes before the break Gleeson was given his marching orders after picking up a second yellow, but it was the team reduced to ten who took the lead through a Kevin Williams wonder goal in first half stoppage time. 

With the game on a knife edge half way through the second half the away side got back on terms through Grogan, and despite Aladesanusi giving the Kingdom the lead once more, up stepped Craven and Magerusan to give their side the advantage. 

The Seagulls picked up their first victory of the season tonight and now return home to face Longford next week whilst Kerry host Treaty United in Tralee. 

Bray Wanderers came into Mounthawk Park with their marquee off-season attacking acquisition Cristian Magerusan picking up a knock, and was resigned to the bench for the away side. Kerry meanwhile were able to start last season's leading scorer Ryan Kelliher up top for the first time in the league. 

The first big chance of the game fell to the home side after just five minutes, Daire McCarthy turned over the ball in midfield and turned to see Daniel Okwute running inside from the right channel and picked his man. Okwute took his time but scuffed the shot, pulling it wide of the net, an attempt the forward would be frustrated at not even troubling the keeper. 

The pressure did not ease for the Wanderers backline, with Okwute pressing down the right once more, his cross was cut out by Corcoran, falling to the feet of Sean McGrath who directed it towards the net but Corcoran was able to prevent it once more. 

Just as the clock hit the 15-minute mark of the game, a huge hailstorm hit Mounthawk Park and forced the referee to bring the tie to a halt momentarily as the pitch was covered with hailstone within seconds of first downpour. 

With both sides returning to the pitch, the biblical weather took another turn as the ground was hit with thunder and lightning, which was deemed a player safety issue by the referee with play suspended for fifteen minutes. 

As the clock ticked past half eight the players returned to the pitch and the referee deemed the surface playable, and with fourteen minutes thirty seconds on the clock the play got back under way. 

The away side were dealt a huge blow after the half-hour mark when Cole Omorehiomwan was withdrawn due to injury, replaced by Freddie Turley. 

A major turning point in the tie came just minutes out from half time, when Kerry were reduced to ten men. Nathan Gleeson was shown his second yellow, just ten minutes after his first, both for poor tackles on the half way mark. Conditions looked to play a part in his slip into the tackle but the referee deemed it dangerous and flashed the red. 

This first half was just an incredible sequence of events, and we were treated to one more in injury time as Kerry FC right back Kevin Williams came onto a breaking ball about 25 yards from goal and smashed it into the back of the net to give his side the lead. 

With the second half resumption, Conor McCarthy opted to replace Daniel Okwute with centre half Ethan Kos, moving to a five back for the remainder of the game. 

As expected after the formation change, Bray Wanderers dominated the ball in the opening phases of the second half. The hosts were happy to sit off and let them play around, only pouncing when the chances of a turnover were high. 

Head coach Ian Ryan did not like the look of the opening fifteen minutes of the half, and turned to his bench, introducing Grogan, Nolan and Magerusan. 

The changes were having a big impact for the away side and after a succession of corners, Shane Griffin managed to put in a peach of a delivery finding the head of substitute Peter Grogan who levelled the tie. 

As was the unpredictable script of this game though, Kerry took the lead from a corner of their own two minutes later, as Samuel Aladesanusi rose highest to head home a Sean O’Connell delivery at the back post. 

Bray Wanderers were not phased going behind, and equalised in the next phase of play through Darren Craven who smashed home inside the box off a breaking ball which Antonio Tuta failed to clear properly. 

The goals did not stop, and Bray got their first lead of the tie just a minute after Craven scored, as Shane Griffin floated a ball into the box which was headed home by Cristian Magerusan. 

McCarthy turned to his bench once more introducing strikers Udeze and Brosnan to try salvage a point in the final ten minutes, but despite their best efforts, Wanderers held out to secure their first win of the 2024 First Division campaign.

After the game, Kerry FC manager Conor McCarthy let his feelings be known to the waiting press, calling the sending off a "horrific" decision.

McCarthy said "To be honest it's a disgraceful decision, the decision is horrific, like it's a coming together of two players. It's not a tackle like Nathan (Gleeson) is not even looking at anything bar the ball, it's a coming together, the fourth official says it's a coming together, the lino says it's a coming together, but the referee cannot wait to get his hand in his pocket and give him a card and those decisions are huge in the game.

"You know tonight maybe take a minute to have a look at what's going on around the game, and just to pull a card and send a player off it just turns a game on its head." "It's very disappointing, from our point of view, I think both benches saw it as a poor decision."

McCarthy also noted that it was frustrating to have the stoppage in play when it happened as his team were on top of the game and had them squeezed in, but there was nothing the referee could do about it, he did the right thing.

There are tonnes of positives for the Kerry manager to take away from tonight though, as McCarthy said "I sound disappointed we are disappointed but probably part of the reason why we are is because of all those factors, down to ten men, we concede and we score again and to lose the game on that is just sicking because of the context of it, but overall it's a performance you cannot fault the players on, it's unbelievable tonight with ten players so no fault in that sense just disappointed we didn't get it over the line and get that historic win."