Gahan's screamer steers dominant Waterford to Plate Final
Action from the Kennedy Cup Plate semi-final between Waterford and Kerry. Photo: Andre Thompson
Tom Gahan scored a screamer that was pivotal to the Waterford Schoolboy League claiming a place in the SFAI Kennedy Cup Plate final after a dominant display against the Kerry Schoolboy League at the University of Limerick.
The Piltown central defender, who has been Waterford’s best player to date in the competition, stunned all present when he found the back of the net straight from the kick-off after Kerry had taken a shock lead seconds earlier.
Max Moynihan put a dent in Waterford’s bright start when he broke the deadlock on six minutes when he beat keeper Lenson Mate with a well-struck left-footed finish from the top of the area, but Gahan responded in kind when his restart found the bottom left-hand corner to draw his side level.
From that moment, Waterford looked impressive with some outstanding football through Joey Robinson, Billy Flynn, Max Chren and Callum Curran, who also has had an excellent tournament with Tramore’s Jimmy Brophy a constant threat.
After Chren had an effort saved on 10 minutes, Brophy got free down the right four minutes later that saw Darragh Revutsky’s close-range header come crashing back off the crossbar before Waterford got their noses in front on 23 minutes.
Revutsky sent in a brilliant left-footed cross that found the head of Max Chren, and his downward header beat Kerry keeper Connie O’Connor. O’Connor produced a stunning save to deny a point-blank shot from Callum Curran after some great link-up play on the stroke of the half-time whistle.
Waterford looked comfortable in the second-half with the defence withstanding the pressure before a third goal killed the game on 54 minutes. Callum Curran sent over a beauty right-wing cross and the header from Tramore’s Daniel Roche was sublime. Roche completed the scoring a minute from the end when he tucked out another fine delivery this time from Billy Flynn.
