St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Waterford United

• Brendan White
• Tue, Sep 15 2009


St Patricks Athletic and Waterford United will have to do it all again at Richmond Park on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.45pm) when they meet in their FAI Ford Cup quarter final replay.

A very entertaining encounter in the RSC finished 1-1 last Saturday to hand both side an unwanted replay to add to their already busy schedules.

Waterford took a 1-0 lead into half time after a cracking 20 yard strike from Willie John Kiely. However St Pat came flying out of the traps in the second half, grabbing the equaliser through former Blues midfielder Gary Dempsey. Dempsey fired past Michael Devine after the Blues defence failed to clear from inside the penalty box.

St Pats were the happier team at the final whistle as they had avoided a very possible defeat with Waterford finishing the game strongest. The Saints are now favourites to progress but the Blues will travel to Richmond Park with nothing to fear.

Waterford have no suspensions to worry about, and no new injuries with Paul McCarthy and David Grincell remaining out with long term injuries. Paul Walsh remains cup-tied having played an earlier round with Limerick.

Waterford boss Stephen Henderson felt his side should have won. Speaking to the Irish Independent, he said that they were “disappointed not to win the tie on the night. We had the major share of possession in the first half and I felt we should have got more than one goal for all our hard work.”

"We dropped too deep in the second period and allowed Pat's back into the game. However we do not fear Pat's and we are looking forward to the replay on Tuesday and we will go there full of confidence."

Jeff Kenna is again without Declan O’Brien who is cup tied. David Partridge (hamstring) and Mark Quigley (hamstring) join Jamie Harris (hamstring) and Garret O’Connor (knee) on the sidelines.

Darragh Ryan made a substitute appearance on Saturday night having recovered from a recent hip injury.

Jeff Kenna is again expecting a tough game. “Waterford play direct football and we didn’t cope as well as we should have with some of their play.

In the second half we started to play some good football and eventually we got the goal that we deserved. For Tuesday night we’ll need to start the match in the same way we played in the second half.”

Extratime Prediction: A tight game but St Pats to have just too much for Waterford and win 2-1.