Bray Wanderers were last night celebrating their arrival in the FAI Cup final for the first time in nine years after an exemplary exercise in professionalism at Tolka Park.

Eschewing anything which approximated to adventure for more than an hour, they executed their strategy of disciplined defence and pace on the break so skilfully that only a last-minute goal by Pat Scully restored an element of respectability to the scoreline for Shelbourne.

It wasn't exactly pretty, but the end product was such that Shelbourne were never allowed to develop their flowing style of football. And it cost them the great prize of a fifth consecutive appearance in the final.

Pat Devlin set out his stall unashamedly from the kick-off with three central defenders, Colm Tresson, Mick Doohan and Jody Lynch, shielding goalkeeper John Walsh and a midfield formation that disrupted the losers' power base at source.

In that situation, it wasn't long before the pre-match odds of 4 to 1 against a Bray win began to look good value as Shelbourne struggled to find a way through.

Shorn of the stabilising influence of Declan Geoghegan and Dave Campbell, they looked in vain to the experience of players like Tony Sheridan, Des Baker and Stephen Geoghegan to point a way out of their growing dilemma.

Sheridan, as is his wont, flitted into the game only at irregular intervals and while Baker supplied some good crosses from the right, Geoghegan was never quite sharp enough on the night. "This a great night for the club," enthused Devlin afterwards.

"To reach the final by beating a club like Shelbourne is tremendous. Now the priority is to make ourselves safe in the championship before we get to the big day on May 9th."

Ironically, Bray achieved their most gratifying success of the season on the day that Waterford's win over Derry dropped them to the foot of the championship table. Watching them dismantle Shelbourne, however, it is difficult to take issue with Devlin's assertion that they deserve to stay in the Premier Division.

Tresson, blending solid, forthright defence with some telling runs from the back, caught the mood of this performance better than most. On song, he is one one of the best players in the country and fortunately for the seasiders, he chose this as the occasion to prove it. Only marginally less effective was Doohan, a splendid rallying force in any team. Devlin would later claim that the absence of Ciaran O'Brien forced him to revise his original plans. If that were the case, he can only be grateful that O'Brien's bout of 'flu intervened when it did.

With Barry O'Connor deployed in a deeper role and Don Tierney and Alan Smith putting themselves around with some relish, the re-arranged midfield formation conformed to the match plan so diligently that the manager will now surely be tempted to leave well enough alone when players like O'Brien and John Ryan become available again.

Shelbourne's disillusionment in finding themselves a goal behind at the break after dominating the game almost totally to that point was aptly summed up by manager Dermot Keely.

"I was numbed by some of what I saw," he said. "Defensive mistakes were always going to decide this game and unfortunately it was we who made them."

It was goalkeeper Alan Gough who stood indicted of the error which led to the vital breakthrough for Bray a minute before half-time. Under pressure, he misread the line of Philip Keogh's free-kick and instead of the decisive fisted clearance merely succeeded in knocking the ball towards the feet of Doohan. And the central defender needed no second invitation to put the ball in an empty net from eight yards.

With Shelbourne now committed to chasing the game, Stephen Fox, a willing worker up front, set off on a long incisive run and then picked out Tresson with the pass which extracted the perfect finish from the defender in the 49th minute.

BRAY WANDERERS: J Walsh, C Tresson, M Doohan, J Lynch, P O'Brien, D Tierney, A Smith, B O'Connor, P Keogh, S Fox, R Coyle.

SHELBOURNE: A Gough, O Heary, A McCarthy, P Scully, K O'Brien, D Baker, P Doolin, D Fitzgerald, L Kelly, A Sheridan, S Geoghegan. Subs: B Kelly for O'Brien (52 mins); D Byrne for Fitzgerald (65 mins).

Referee: R O'Hanlon (Waterford).