O'Brien rues second half display

Waterford United boss Paul O’Brien has admitted that his side’s poor second half performance was the cause of two dropped points in their opening league match against Finn Harps on Friday night.

Ben Ryan’s first half goal was cancelled out by Sean McCarron in the 89th minute, and O’Brien felt his side didn’t continue their dominance from the first half.

“I thought it really was a game of two halves tonight. I thought we did very well in the first half and came in at half time 1-0, I felt we were well in control of the game and it could have been 2-0, but something changed in the second half. Maybe it was something psychological but we seemed to take our leg off it a bit and seemed to get deeper and deeper and they started to play.

“They changed around a bit in the second half and played 4-4-2 instead but I think we didn’t get close enough to them in periods of the game, I felt we kind of surrendered the midfield to them. But to be fair their main threat was a long ball and it was difficult because we don’t have the tallest of teams but I thought the lads at the back dealt with it pretty well.

The Blues manager was thrilled with Ben Ryan’s contribution and well-taken goal, and admitted that a point wasn’t a bad result overall.
 

“It was a good goal. Ben played really well, his goal was similar to the one he scored in the [CFAI] final on Wednesday, and to be fair it’s the first game of the season and the work rate was really, really high from Ben and all the lads.
 

“I even said it at half time, if we did get the second goal I think it would have put it to bed. I was happy enough with it, and they’ll only get fitter and stronger. We should be closing games like that out, but I’m happy enough with a point."
 

O’Brien will have to lift his team quickly after the disappointment of a late conceded goal, with Monday seeing Cobh Ramblers visiting the RSC in the EA Sports Cup, and the manager has said that he’ll be taking the game very serious and going out to win.
 

“It’s handy to have a game so quick so we can get back into it, and we’re hoping to get a result. You always treat every game properly and give is respect and try to win every game we play, and that’s certainly what we’ll be doing.”