Waterford United U19s  2 - 1  Shamrock Rovers U19s

Despite a constant deluge of torrential rain, Waterford United’s U19s produced an outstanding display to overcome a strong Shamrock Rovers side to move, temporarily at least, to the top of the Elite U-19 League table.

The young Blues were helped by the 35th minute dismissal of Hoops defender Gary Comerford for a two-footed lunge at Conor Coad, but by that stage they were already in front, and might even have had the tie wrapped up, as Coad flashed an early header inches wide and Rovers ‘keeper Lee Stacey saved excellently from Thomas Whitty and Jason Keane. Man of the moment Sean Maguire broke the deadlock on 23 minutes, racing clear onto Keane’s long pass to slot beyond Stacey, and just before the break Aidan McGrath’s astute pass set the two to face each other again, with the netminder coming out on top.

The Blues continued as they left off after the restart, Maguire testing Stacey once more early on before doubling the lead just before the hour mark. Superb work from Jack Doherty down the left saw his low centre find Maguire, who fired home at the second attempt. The visitors finally got themselves into the game on 77 minutes when Lorcan Shannon forced an exceptional save from Sean Whitty, and they finally pulled one back three minutes from time when Paul Moffat tapped home the rebound from Sean Dixon’s 25-yard piledriver. Too little too late though, as the Blues’ fourth win on the bounce moved them to the summit for a brief spell, until news of Cork’s win at Drogheda filtered through. The current league table can be found at the bottom of this page.

(pics with thanks to Paul Elliot / Waterford Soccer Monthly)

Blues: Sean Whitty; Jamie Cross, Thomas Whitty, Conor Acheson, Jason Keane; Aidan McGrath, David Cooley, Adam Potter (Craig Keane 74), Jack Doherty (Alan Rhodes 79); Conor Coad (Nathan West 61), Sean Maguire

Goals: Maguire 23, 58

Rovers: Lee Stacey, Dean Power, Jack Emery, Donal Brannigan, Gary Comerford, Niall Forrister, Lorcan Shannon, Paul Moffat, Ciaran Byrne (Sean Dixon 35), Graham Delaney (Dean Ebbe 51), Kelvin Jackson (Paul Connolly 64)

Goal: Moffat 87

Sent Off: Comerford 35

Referee: Shane Dunphy