Early goals a killer as Waterford FC suffer defeat on the road
Waterford's Conan Noonan takes on Drogheda's Conor Keeley during the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division at Sullivan & Lambe Park. Photo: Ken Sutton
Waterford FC failed to recover after conceding two very poor first-half goals when going down 2-0 to Drogheda United in their SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division played in front of the Virgin Media TV cameras at Sullivan & Lambe Park.
After grabbing a deserved draw from the season opener against Shelbourne, manager Jon Daly made one change to the side that earned that point with Sam Glenfield coming into the starting team in place of Cian Barrett, who dropped to the bench.
The Blues would have been hoping to keep things nice and tight during the early exchanges on a heavy pitch that had to survive a Friday afternoon pitch inspection, but it was the complete opposition from Daly’s men as they were on the backfoot from the opening whistle.
They conceded a corner-kick inside the opening minute and that was a sign of things to come as they found themselves a goal behind inside three minutes when failing to clear their lines from a Drogheda set piece.
It was a dream start for the hosts inside three minutes. Brandon Kavanagh sent over a right-wing corner that saw Conor Keeley’s header cleared off the line by Benny Couto, but after the ball was cleared to Shane Farrell, he powered an unstoppable left-footed strike to the roof of the net.
Drogheda doubled their lead seven minutes later with a sweeping move down the left that saw Conor Kane link up with Edwin Agbaje, who sent in a cross that wasn’t dealt with by the Blues defence, and when the ball broke for Mark Doyle, he dinked a right-footed shot to the back of the net.
Sam Glenfield was cautioned by referee Aaron O’Dowd for stopping a promising attack on 19 minutes before a good period of pressure six minutes later saw Couto feed Padraig Amond down the left channel, but the captain slipped at the crucial stage.
Tommy Lonergan won a dangerous free-kick out on the left on 27 minutes after he was pulled down by Luke Burney, who picked up a yellow card for his troubles, but John Mahon was judged to be offside from the resulting Conan Noonan delivery.
The Blues had another half chance on 34 minutes when Benny Couto’s throw picked out the run of Tommy Lonergan, who put in a cross in the centre for Conor Carty, but his goalbound effort from 12 yards was superbly blocked by Drogheda defender Conor Keeley.
Shane Farrell was in the thick of the action once again for the hosts three minutes before the break when he released former Blue Thomas Oluwa down the left-side, but his low shot was well saved by keeper Stephen McMullan at his near post.
McMullan was called into action to make a smart save to deny Doherty’s side a third goal on 58 minutes when Brandon Kavanagh showed neat skill to pick out Mark Doyle, who jinked past two players before cracking in a shot that was well held.
Waterford did try to force a couple of chances, but they failed to trouble the Drogheda keeper Luke Dennison before Cian Barrett nearly pulled a rabbit from a hat ten minutes from time when the Shamrock Rovers loanee let fly from 30 yards only to see his stunner come crashing back off the woodwork.
Tommy Lonergan was off target with a header from a Noonan delivery on 87 minutes, and although the Blues managed 11 corners during the course of the 90 minutes, they could not find that clinical chance to beat Dennison as the hosts made it two wins from two.
Dennison; Agbaje, Keeley, Quinn, Burney (Bolger 56); O’Brien, Doyle, Farrell (Godden 65), Kavanagh; Kane, Oluwa (Oluwa 78).
McMullan; Henney, Mahon, Cann, Couto; McLaughlin (Coyle 68), Glenfield (Barrett 68), Lonergan; Carthy (Voilas 63), Amond, Noonan.
Aaron O’Dowd (Dublin).
2,103
