Harps manager Charlie McGeever conceded afterwards that his side had had a close shave with the former Sligo Rovers defender pointing to Stephen Fox's late header as being the sort of let off that you don't get too often on football's biggest days.

"I would suspect that if he had put it away they'd have won the game but then if Fergal Harkin's shot had gone in a while before that, I think we would have won.

"It was always going to be that sort of day - a goal was going to be what separated the sides at the end."

McGeever felt that his players had been nervous through the opening stages, with most taking the opening 20 to really settle into the contest but, he said "cup finals are nearly always like that the first time around. I think you'll find that the replay is a more open match.

"It'll be a bit more relaxed and I think both teams will go out for the win a bit more."

The Harps boss dismissed claims from the Bray camp that they should have had a penalty 15 minutes from time, pointing out that referee John McDermott was only a few yards away from the incident and had waved play on.

Otherwise, he felt, his team had coped well through the afternoon with Gavin Dykes having done `very well' off Stephen Fox and I thought, to be honest, that he wasn't far at all behind Brian (McKenna) in the Man of the Match stakes.

"I thought, generally, we coped very well at the back. It was when it came to creating chances of our own that we started to run into trouble."