Henderson gutted with play-off defeat
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Waterford United manager Stephen Henderson cut an inconsolable figure as he emerged from the home dressing room last Tuesday night after his side’s 3-1 play-off defeat at the hands of Monaghan United.
Aidan Lynch gave Monaghan a first half lead with a second-half brace from Philly Hughes enough for victory with Liam Kearney grabbing the goal for the home. Despite finished ahead of their opponents in the league table, third placed Monaghan came back to haunt the home side and claim their fourth win against them this season.
“That’s four times we’ve played them and four times we haven’t beaten them so they’re obviously better at doing what they do than we are doing what we do. They are a big strong physical side but I thought we competed well, started passing the ball in the second half and had a couple of great chances with Willie [John Kiely] and Liam [Kearney].”
Monaghan-based referee Paul McLaughlin was in the firing line for Henderson after the official made several incorrect decisions, including denying Willie John Kiely a penalty, and awarding a very soft free kick that lead to Monaghan’s third goal.
“It was a stonewall penalty. He doesn’t give it, then the kid falls over himself and he gives it. He doesn’t give it [the penalty] so possibly from 2-2 it goes to 3-1 in the space of a couple of minutes. But you have to give credit to Philly [Hughes], he popped it away in the top corner.”
The referee’s assistant also came in for blame but the decision to appoint the referee kept Henderson perplexed. “I’m not surprised, the linesman missed an awful lot of stuff tonight, so we weren’t expecting him to give it. I think when the FAI look at it and appoint a Monaghan-based referee, to referee Monaghan United in a play-off, then they’re asking to be scrutinised.”
“We had chances ourselves though with or without the penalty to get ourselves out and even take the lead at one stage, we didn’t take them. There’s no point criticising them, they’re all down in there, all devastated.”
Planning for next season begins immediately with Henderson looking to begin talks with players, though numerous players have already been in discussions. “I have to sit down with the MC [management committee] now and decide do we continue to bring the young players in or do we get ourselves a few experienced players. We lost [Graham] Cummins and Kenny [Browne] from that squad from last season, if we had both of them we would have won this league comfortably, but we only finished three points off a very, very good Derry side.”
“We have to talk to the players not in contract which we’ve already been doing and we’ve spoke to a few. We have to physically see if we can afford to get these players in. There’s a budget here, a tight budget, and we work stringently to that, we’re never going to put the club at risk.”
Aidan Lynch gave Monaghan a first half lead with a second-half brace from Philly Hughes enough for victory with Liam Kearney grabbing the goal for the home. Despite finished ahead of their opponents in the league table, third placed Monaghan came back to haunt the home side and claim their fourth win against them this season.
“That’s four times we’ve played them and four times we haven’t beaten them so they’re obviously better at doing what they do than we are doing what we do. They are a big strong physical side but I thought we competed well, started passing the ball in the second half and had a couple of great chances with Willie [John Kiely] and Liam [Kearney].”
Monaghan-based referee Paul McLaughlin was in the firing line for Henderson after the official made several incorrect decisions, including denying Willie John Kiely a penalty, and awarding a very soft free kick that lead to Monaghan’s third goal.
“It was a stonewall penalty. He doesn’t give it, then the kid falls over himself and he gives it. He doesn’t give it [the penalty] so possibly from 2-2 it goes to 3-1 in the space of a couple of minutes. But you have to give credit to Philly [Hughes], he popped it away in the top corner.”
The referee’s assistant also came in for blame but the decision to appoint the referee kept Henderson perplexed. “I’m not surprised, the linesman missed an awful lot of stuff tonight, so we weren’t expecting him to give it. I think when the FAI look at it and appoint a Monaghan-based referee, to referee Monaghan United in a play-off, then they’re asking to be scrutinised.”
“We had chances ourselves though with or without the penalty to get ourselves out and even take the lead at one stage, we didn’t take them. There’s no point criticising them, they’re all down in there, all devastated.”
Planning for next season begins immediately with Henderson looking to begin talks with players, though numerous players have already been in discussions. “I have to sit down with the MC [management committee] now and decide do we continue to bring the young players in or do we get ourselves a few experienced players. We lost [Graham] Cummins and Kenny [Browne] from that squad from last season, if we had both of them we would have won this league comfortably, but we only finished three points off a very, very good Derry side.”
“We have to talk to the players not in contract which we’ve already been doing and we’ve spoke to a few. We have to physically see if we can afford to get these players in. There’s a budget here, a tight budget, and we work stringently to that, we’re never going to put the club at risk.”
About Brendan White
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