Waterford United 3 - 2 Athlone Town

• Brendan White
• Sat, Oct 23 2010


Waterford United kept their play-off hopes alive after a pulsating 3-2 victory against Athlone Town in the RSC on Friday evening with two goals in an astonishing last ten minutes. Losing 2-1 after 84 minutes, Waterford United somehow grabbed two late goals from Paul Walsh and captain Kevin Murray in a frenzied closing to end the recent good form of visitors Athlone Town.

Waterford United made just one change from last weekend with Alan Carey returning from suspension in place of Paul Carey, while David Breen and Shane Fitzgerald replaced Brian McCarthy and the suspended Denis Moran.

A crazy opening ten minutes saw Athlone take an early lead before being pegged back just four minutes later. Seamus Long misjudged a Paddy Collins cross from the right and the ball bounced to Ryan McEvoy who power a left footed strike past Kevin Burns in the Waterford goal.

Four minutes later Waterford were level. Timmy Purcell played in John Kearney down the right; his shot was parried by Schlingermann but collected by Liam Kearney at the back post. He laid the ball off to the inrushing Paul Murphy and he fired the ball through Schlingermann’s legs, though the keeper may feel he should have done better.

The following period was quite poor with neither side controlling the game. Ryan McEvoy was next to try his luck but his dipping free kick was touched onto the crossbar by Kevin Burns. Two minutes later, Timmy Purcell made good progress down the right but his pull back was too far behind everyone. Paul Murphy went close just before half time but Schlingermann saved his strike from a low Alan Carey cross to leave the sides level at half time.

Two minutes after the break, Athlone Town retook the lead. Seamus Long’s attempted header back to keeper Kevin Burns fell way short and Andy Haran coolly lobbed the ball over the stranded Kevin Burns. Austin Skelly almost added another goal just one minute later but his strike went narrowly wide.

Athlone Town were then denied what looked a definite penalty. Garvan Broughall jinked his way into the Waterford penalty area and was tripped by Michael Coady, but referee Phil Caschera waved play on.

Waterford United took control of the game from then on and had numerous chances to level the score. Kevin Murray was first to try but he headed just wide from a Paul Murphy cross. A minute later Paul Murphy went even closer for Waterford but his superb strike was expertly tipped over the crossbar by Schlingermann.

Kevin Murray went close again when he hit the crossbar with a header from a Paul Murphy corner. Athlone almost went further ahead against the run of run. Skelly and O’Reilly exchanged passes before the latter shot just wide of the right hand post.

Substitute Vinny Sullivan replaced Gary Dunphy before being replaced himself by Shane Barrett after suffering a dislocation of his shoulder in a collision with Athlone keeper Michael Schlingermann.

With six minutes remaining, Waterford grabbed the goal that their second half pressure had warranted. Paul Murphy, terrific throughout, fired in a superb cross to the back post where the unmarked Paul Walsh brilliantly headed past Schlingermann to level the game.

The goal set up a frantic four minutes of stoppage time as Waterford went in search of the winning goal. The winning goal arrived in the 93rd minutes and the initial setup was worthy of winning any game. Full back Michael Coady went on a searching run down the left and played the ball inside to Liam Kearney. Rather than stop, Coady continued his run and was brilliantly found by Kearney before firing in a low cross where Blues captain Kevin Murray was on hand to bundle home the winner to send the home fans wild.

The second half performance from the home side was that of a team not willing to give up on promotion, and while Athlone played their part in a thrilling game, Stephen Henderson’s side deserved the three points.

The win leaves Waterford United two points ahead of Shelbourne, who they face next week in the final series of games, and one point ahead of Monaghan United who play on Saturday evening. Athlone remain in tenth place just one point behind Longford Town.

Waterford United: Burns; A Carey, Long, Murray, Coady; Purcell (Walsh 66'), J Kearney, Dunphy (Sullivan 72' (Barrett 79')), L Kearney; Murphy, Kiely.
Subs not used: Konopka, Waters.

Athlone Town: Schlingermann; Nolan, Broughall, Collins, Breen; Relihan, Hughes (McCarthy 89'), McEvoy, Fitzgerald; Skelly, Haran (Reilly 65')
Subs not used: Maloney, Murray, Gaynor

Referee: Phil Caschera
Man of the Match: Paul Murphy - Scored one, set-up one and central to most of what Waterford did on the night.