“We weren’t good enough and have no excuses”
Waterford FC manager John Coleman.
Waterford FC manager John Coleman was a dejected figure as he stood behind the goal that saw Kaedyn Kamara’s 80th-minute free header for Cork City knock the Blues out of the Sports Direct FAI Cup at Turner’s Cross on Friday last.
Not since the win over St. Patrick’s Athletic back in 1980 have Waterford won the famed cup, and considering what remains in the competition this season, this will be seen as a big chance missed, but in truth, the Blues only have themselves to blame.
Fair enough, people can point to the decision of referee Rob Hennessy not to award what looked like a stonewall penalty in second-half injury-time when Josh Miles was cleared out in the area, but that doesn’t cover up brutal defending for the Cork goals.
Speaking after the game, Coleman said: “We weren’t good enough, and you’ve got to accept defeat with dignity. I don’t think that there was much in the game. I did mention the fact before the game that Cork could’ve been three or four up at the RSC when we beat them the other week.
“We’ve given away another ridiculous goal from our point of view because we’ve failed to stop the cross twice, we’ve left a lad run in between to score. It’s an awful goal to concede, but we got back into the game and had a couple of chances.
“But we didn’t work their goalkeeper anywhere near enough. When I first came in, we got them playing attractive football with free-flowing football. I actually made a statement that we were playing the best football in the league, but that’s quickly dissipated.
“Possibly players have got a little bit too comfy. We’ve got to pass the ball better and stick to the game plan better. We spoke about putting the ball in their box, but they must’ve had 30 crosses tonight, but we didn’t.
“Every time we got into the box, we looked dangerous and we scored from it. The big turning point for me, and it’s harsh because he did what he thought right, but Kyle White can’t miss that.
“He has gone around the keeper, and he’s got a lad that can’t use his hands, but the shot is an apology. It’s so casual that it’s untrue, and for the gravity of the game, that’s got to be buried. I think that if he had that chance again, he wouldn’t do what he did.
“We’ve got to congratulate Cork and say well done, but we’ve got to move onto next week against Sligo, and we know that’s going to be a big game. We need to come back here in a fortnight and show our travelling fans, who were great all night, who I am bitterly disappointed for because they stood by us even at the end, and right a few wrongs.”
Coleman wasn’t making any excuses for missing players or for the fact that his side should’ve had a penalty in the dying minutes.
“I don’t know how you deal with the defensive situation. You can only bring in players who are out of contract, and it’s about getting the right ones and having the finances to do it. We’re not a wealthy club, and we’ve maxed out the budget.
“We lost two centre-halves this week in Darragh and Boyler. Just when you think that you’re getting Kacper (Radkowski) back, you lose two. We will try to bring a centre-half in, but whether we can or not is a different question.
“We were so sloppy in the first-half and the second-half, to be honest. We left them get down the sides of us readily. We give away a lot of fouls; some were justified, and some weren’t. We know the nature of the game where you don’t give fouls away, and we did tonight.
“I’m not going to use the incident where we could’ve had a penalty at the end as an excuse for losing the game. You can’t govern what the referee does; you can only govern what you can do. If it’s a penalty, it’s a penalty, but it isn’t a penalty because he hasn’t given it. That’s the harsh reality of football.
“We could be frustrated by a few things, but we’ve got to do things better, so we’re not frustrated like passing the ball better. Our passing of the ball was woeful tonight. At times, we did some good things and good moves, but it was too sporadic.
“We had chances to shoot late on, but we either hit their man or hit it over the bar. We had two good chances from free-kicks, but we couldn’t hit the target. It’s not a moving target, it’s eight yards wide so that’s disappointing.”
Coleman concluded: “We have to go again and we’ve a big game against Sligo next week. It’s our job to lift them up again. I think about the attractive football as well, that maybe teams have copped onto us. You can get that a little bit.
“I think that we’ve got to be brave and got to be prepared to lose the ball in the final third. We’ve got to do a little bit of off-the-cuff stuff. The problem with us is that we’re doing it in our own half.
“Some ridiculous passing tonight, some ridiculous decisions tonight, and we weren’t strong enough when it mattered. Our organisation from the free-kick that they scored the winner was poor.
“Ironically, I was on the verge of making a substitute at the time, and that plan is gone out the window. We get drilled on how we defend free kicks because Murph and Breener do a great job on that.
“But this isn’t Subbuteo, where you can stop the game and place them where you want. We had too many players out of position in that situation, and we’ve left a lad to have a free header. If you do that in a Munster derby with ten minutes to go, you’ve only got yourself to blame.”
