Hard-fought win pleases Henderson
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Waterford United manager Stephen Henderson was a happy man on Friday evening after seeing his side notch their sixth consecutive league win of the season.
A first-half header from Willie John Kiely and a second-half penalty from Alan Carey gave The Blues a 2-1 Munster derby win over Limerick in front of just over 1,000 spectators.
Despite earning five wins before this match, Limerick made life very difficult for Waterford throughout the 90 minutes and Henderson was quick to acknowledge that.
"It was hard fought. We had to dig in," said Henderson. "Football didn’t work. Some of that was down to us and some of that was down to Limerick. Limerick came down, played a system, they closed us down, closed our full-backs down very quickly and they worked very hard."
"That's the fittest Limerick team I have seen in a long time and it was a right battle. But we're delighted with it because we've come out on top, just about."
With the game at 1-1, The Blues boss knows that either team could have gone on to win as Limerick posed a threat when breaking forward.
"It could have gone either way," he said. "The onus was on us to get the goal because we're the home team, but at the same time, we needed to take care at the back because they were a threat.
"Their front three were a threat; they were excellent, [Shane] Clarke, Daryl [Kavanagh] and [John] Tierney. They were a threat all night.
"The three lads in the middle of the park worked really hard. Their back four didn't really push up and that made it difficult for us to go at them. All credit to them, they did their homework and they stuck to their task.
"They are the best team we’ve played this year. Pat [Scully, Limerick manager] will be feeling a little hard done by, they probably deserved a draw here tonight but I’m not complaining."
Waterford's winning goal came via the penalty spot, but it was a decision that almost wasn't given. Referee Keith Callanan failed to award the spot kick, but his assistant was on hand to advise him, and Henderson was quick to pay credit to the official.
"I was standing there in disbelief," joked Henderson. "In fairness to the linesman, a lot of linesmen would have put up the flag and put it straight back down again but he didn't, he kept it up.
"He knew what everyone else in the ground knew that it was a stone-wall penalty and all credit to the linesman for being brave enough to do that."
A first-half header from Willie John Kiely and a second-half penalty from Alan Carey gave The Blues a 2-1 Munster derby win over Limerick in front of just over 1,000 spectators.
Despite earning five wins before this match, Limerick made life very difficult for Waterford throughout the 90 minutes and Henderson was quick to acknowledge that.
"It was hard fought. We had to dig in," said Henderson. "Football didn’t work. Some of that was down to us and some of that was down to Limerick. Limerick came down, played a system, they closed us down, closed our full-backs down very quickly and they worked very hard."
"That's the fittest Limerick team I have seen in a long time and it was a right battle. But we're delighted with it because we've come out on top, just about."
With the game at 1-1, The Blues boss knows that either team could have gone on to win as Limerick posed a threat when breaking forward.
"It could have gone either way," he said. "The onus was on us to get the goal because we're the home team, but at the same time, we needed to take care at the back because they were a threat.
"Their front three were a threat; they were excellent, [Shane] Clarke, Daryl [Kavanagh] and [John] Tierney. They were a threat all night.
"The three lads in the middle of the park worked really hard. Their back four didn't really push up and that made it difficult for us to go at them. All credit to them, they did their homework and they stuck to their task.
"They are the best team we’ve played this year. Pat [Scully, Limerick manager] will be feeling a little hard done by, they probably deserved a draw here tonight but I’m not complaining."
Waterford's winning goal came via the penalty spot, but it was a decision that almost wasn't given. Referee Keith Callanan failed to award the spot kick, but his assistant was on hand to advise him, and Henderson was quick to pay credit to the official.
"I was standing there in disbelief," joked Henderson. "In fairness to the linesman, a lot of linesmen would have put up the flag and put it straight back down again but he didn't, he kept it up.
"He knew what everyone else in the ground knew that it was a stone-wall penalty and all credit to the linesman for being brave enough to do that."
About Brendan White
Brendan White is Extratime News Editor and is responsible for the news section of Extratime.ie. Brendan also covers matches in Dublin and Waterford. You can contact Brendan on twitter @whitebrendan. View Full Profile