“This result showed a great deal of character”
Waterford FC's Padraig Amond celebrates with the match ball after scoring a hat trick against Drogheda United in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division at the RSC on Thursday night. Photo: Inpho/Ken Sutton.
Holding a bottle of champagne in one hand and the hand of his young son Eoghan with the other, Waterford FC hat-trick hero Padraig Amond walked across the RSC pitch after receiving the plaudits in the hospitality lounge to face the awaiting media to reflect on a brilliant comeback win over Drogheda United.
Going into the clash with the Louth outfit, the Carlow native had five goals, but his triple in the space of a 13-minute period turned a first Thursday night game in front of the Virgin Media Sport TV cameras on its head as the Blues made it back-to-back wins in front of their home fans.
After bringing his tally for the season to eight goals, Amond said: “We’re delighted because it looked a bit ropey for us a half a minute into the second-half. Things weren’t looking great, but look we’re obviously delighted to get the three points. I think it showed a lot of character from the team tonight.
“I think that especially with a young team, it’s really, really important because it shows that we’re learning all the time. It would have bene very easy for us to keel over and lose the game on live TV, which would have been really disappointing with a result and a big setback.
“But the result tonight was a massive one for us and it sends us back up the table. We spoke a few ago about how we’d try to turn the RSC into a fortress and make it difficult for teams to come here. The pitch was unbelievable here tonight and that gave Drogheda the belief.
“I thought that when we got on top in the second-half, it was a great characteristic of the team to go for the jugular and the fourth goal. I thought that we saw the game out really well. We were still in the game at half-time because we went 1-0 down to Drogheda early on in the season as well.
“We scored four up there and I said to the lads at half-time funnily enough that we needed to believe that we could still win the game. Even when we conceded the second goal tonight we needed to keep going and continue to be brave on the ball. Regardless of mistakes, we kept going and got the win.”
With his son Eoghan by his side, Amond was proud that he got to see his “daddy” get a hat-trick. “I have a few hat-tricks in my career, but for my young son to be here with his grandad to see it, it’s fantastic. I’m delighted that I have a match ball here for my son. That’s nice.
“It was very subtle changes that the manager made at half-time. I think you saw in the second-half how important it is to have a manager of the quality of Keith Long, who can make those changes.
“We have the Rennie return next week and he’ll want to win. Jesus these are great games to look forward too. The league is really, really enjoyable to be part of. I think when you see Duffer, Stephen Kenny, Rennie, Keith – there’s great publicity around the league recently.
“It’s great to be part of this club as well. It’s going places. My young lad is delighted. He was sitting in the new stand with his grandad. He loves football and I’m delighted that he had a ball to go home and play with now. It’s great and I’m really, really pleased.”
