Waterford United -v- St. Patrick's Athletic

• Dean Hayes
• Sat, Sep 12 2009


The RSC is the venue on Saturday night as Waterford United and St Patrick’s Athletic meet in the FAI Ford Cup Quarter Final (kick-off 7pm). The Saints overcame Monaghan United after extra-time earlier in the week and will once again need to beat First Division opposition if they are to progress further in this competition.

Waterford have hit a slightly poor run of form lately and having been prolific all season, have now gone three games without a goal. Blues boss Stephen Henderson will be hoping that his formerly free-scoring front line can get back amongst the goals in what will be a very stern test for his team. The Suirsiders have been exceptional in cup competitions thus far this season and dumped out Premier Division opposition in Shamrock Rovers on the way to the EA Sports Cup Final so they are unlikely to be fazed by another top-tier encounter, especially at home.

St Pat’s meanwhile will look forward to having a break from their indifferent league campaign and as witnessed by their exceptional European run this season, they enjoy the intensity of knockout competition. Manager Jeff Kenna is expecting another tough game from the promotion-chasing hosts and will be making sure his players are ready to meet the challenge. “Waterford are a good side, they’re challenging for promotion at the top of the division and have home advantage so I’m sure they’ll put it up to us.

Monaghan gave us a really tough battle in the last round and forced us to dig [deep] over the two matches.

It might not have been lovely, attractive football at times but we kept our discipline, we kept battling away and in the end we got the result that mattered.

While it may be different to sustain a performance like that over a season it showed us that on any given night, a first division side is more than capable of matching a premier division side.

Playing on Saturday thankfully gives us an extra day to recover from Monday’s extra-time as we expect a real test from Waterford”

Waterford have no new injury or suspension worries, with long-term absentees Paul McCarthy and David Grincell the only unavailable players. Saints will be without their European goal hero Declan O’Brien who is cup-tied and Kenna is leaving it late to decide on the fitness of some players including Jamie Harris (hamstring), Garret O’Connor (knee) and Darragh Ryan (hip).

Extratime.ie Prediction: I’m expecting a very tight game and St Pat’s to just shade it. 2-1 to the Dublin side.