Waterford United  2 - 1  Limerick FC

Waterford United returned to winning ways in the league with a deserved, if not altogether convincing victory over Limerick at the RSC. The Blues were in need of all three points to  revitalise their title challenge, and they got off to a bright start on two minutes, when Willie John Kiely spun neatly on Dave Warren’s low drilled pass, but pulled his left foot volley tamely wide of the far post. Three minutes later, at the other end, Shane Tracey fired wildly wide for the visitors from 20 yards, but the home side kept on the front foot in the opening exchanges, and went ahead 11 minutes in, when a fine move was capped by a somewhat fortunate finish. Warren clipped in a fine angled pass to Paul Walsh deep in the right side of the area. Walsh did wonderfully well to pull the ball down on the endline, get it under control, and rifle in a superb low cross which Brian O’Callaghan, stationed at the near post, could only divert into the net past goalkeeper Dave Ryan, who had moved out off his line to try to intercept.

With the deadlock broken so early, the Blues might have been hoping to kick on into an unassailable lead nice and early too, but in a fairly flat first half they couldn’t quite create a second genuine scoring chance. Bookending another wild Shane Tracey effort from distance on 26 minutes, Kiely had two good sights of goal but couldn’t find the target, first fluffing his volley straight at Ryan when nicely teed up by Graham Cummins’ headed knock down, then attempting a quick chip from wide on the left after the ball broke free from his strike partner’s challenge on the keeper outside the area. Cummins in turn missed what was a better chance than he might have realised when he just didn’t put enough on a glancing header from John Kearney’s cross and the ball flew well wide of the far post. And another good move came to naught three minutes from the break, when Kiely cleverly chested down Walsh’s cross into the path of Warren, but the 20 yard effort was too high to trouble Ryan further.

Moments before, the home side had a scare when a long ball over the top set John Tierney away into the right channel, and he went down under the challenge of Michael Devine rushing out off his line. The assistant referee flagged instantly, however, and rather than award the penalty for which the visiting fans were baying, the referee ran to the scene pointing for a free out, and booked Tierney for diving.

The second half began pretty much as the first had ended, Cummins with the opening chance, but firing straight at Ryan after Kiely had set him away nicely. At the other end a mix up in defence between Kenny Browne and Kevin Murray caused momentary panic in the Blues’ box. Alan Carey was on hand to tidy up, but he himself dawdled and let Dean Finnan rob him, but the cross was poorly directed. As the tempo and the quality of the game increased, Kiely again had two good sights of goal in quick succession around ten minutes into the half. First, having ridden a bad challenge and exchanged a neat 1-2 with Walsh, the Dungarvan man saw his well struck effort deflected behind by Niall Donnelly. Then Seamus Long picked him out on the edge of the area with an excellent through ball, another deft turn, a quick chip, but the ball floated just wide of the right hand post.

Limerick fashioned another half-chance at the other end, and again it was Tracey that was in the thick of it. When Devine tipped a well-flighted corner away, the Limerick midfielder picked it up on the left corner of the box, drove fiercely against the legs of the massed Blues defence, and then hammered the rebound wide of the near post. But within minutes the home side were further in front, when the same eagle-eyed linesman that denied the Shannonsiders the first half penalty spotted Graham Cummins being bundled over in the box by Martin Deady. The big striker dusted himself off to take the kick himself, and though Ryan did superbly to save low to his left, Cummins drove the rebound home from eight yards.

Waterford were attacking with confidence now, and twice Cummins almost turned provider for Kiely, teeing his strike partner up both times from the left side, first for Donnelly to charge down the shot, and then forcing Ryan to rush out to make a great blocking save. A super move down the right side on 80 minutes saw Long pick up a half-clearance and split the defence to find Walsh, with Donnelly just beating Kiely to the near post cross.

 The visitors made the last few minutes much more tense than they should have been however, when Kevin Murray was adjudged to have pulled back John Tierney as a long ball into the Blues box wasn’t properly dealt with. Devine guessed right on the resulting penalty, but Tracey’s placement was perfect as it flew inside the right hand post. Limerick tried hard to get back on terms in the dying minutes, but a handful of free kicks into the area was all they could muster, and the home side saw out the victory with no more scares, and added a vital three points to their total. The later scoreline which arrived from Athlone added immensely to the good result, and only reinforced the idea that this league is far from over!

Waterford United: Michael Devine; Alan Carey, Kevin Murray, Kenny Browne, John Kearney; Paul Walsh (Joe Mulcahy 83), Dave Warren, Seamus Long, Kevin Waters; Willie John Kiely (David Grincell 81), Graham Cummins – subs: Kevin Burns, Paul McCarthy, Stephen Grant

Goals: O’Callaghan o.g. 11, Cummins 62

Booked: Long, Devine, Murray, Mulcahy, Waters

Limerick: Dave Ryan, Conor Molan, Martin Deady, Brian O’Callaghan, Niall Donnelly, Tomas Barrett (Robbie Kelleher 39), David Ryan, Gavin Roche, John Tierney, Shane Tracey, Dean Finnan (David McGrath 67) - subs: Andy Moloney, Michael Sheehan, Jack Allen

Goals: Tracey (85 pen)

Booked: Tierney

Referee: Jim McKell (Tipperary)