- Fran Reilly
- Sat, Jun 25 2016
First-half goals from Philly Gorman and Aaron O'Connor gave Waterford United a 2-0 win over Shelbourne at Tolka Park on Friday night.
For Roddy Collins and his beleaguered Blues, this was the ideal pick-me-up after the recent travailssurrounding the club, and it's a result which keeps Waterford within four points of the play-off spots.
As for Shels, this defeat saw them drop one place to third from bottom in the First Division table and they will rue missed chances in this game.
Former Shels man Philly Gorman was a handful all evening for the Reds defence and he had his first sight of goal in the 13th minute, hitting a first-time shot from a Robbie Buckley pass, but Jack Brady was equal to it.
The Shels 'keeper had to be alert again five minutes later as Anthony McAlavey tried to use the wet surface to his advantage when striking a free-kick from 30 yards, but Brady saved comfortably.
Kevin Doherty's side were slow coming out of the blocks and their first chance of note was in the 20th minute when Jamie Doyle slipped in Reds top scorer James English, but the seven-goal striker couldn't add to his tally this time, firing over the bar.
Two minutes later, Shels were dealt a further blow when centre-back Aidan Collins was forced off injured. It is the second time this season the 32-year-old has suffered a game-ending injury in the first-half of a match at Tolka.
Things went from bad to worse for the home side as they fell behind in the 26th minute. Aaron O'Connor worked some space down the right side and crossed into the box where Gorman was lurking. The 34-year-old rose highest to head home his seventh league goal from just ten appearances.
Incredibly, just two minutes later, the woodwork denied Shels an equaliser twice in quick succession. First English hit the post and from the rebound Carl Walshe struck the crossbar. It was a let-off for the Blues and they punished Shels in the 39th minute.
O'Connor had come close moments before, his effort being blocked and the follow-up put wide by Owen Wall. However, second time around the 19 year old benefited from a slight deflection to double Waterford's lead before half-time.
Three minutes after the restart, O'Connor just missed the target for his second before Shels raced up the other end with Cian Kavanagh bringing an excellent save out of Kevin Burns in the Waterford goal.
Brady was kept busy in the Shels goal and did well to keep out efforts from Gorman and James O'Brien as Collins' men went in search of the killer third goal.
Doherty brought on Stephen Elliott and handed a debut to Aji Sule to try turn the tide, but there was to be no comeback for the Reds as Waterford took all three points back to the RSC.
Shelbourne: Jack Brady; Adam O'Connor, Aidan Collins (Robert Duggan, 22), Ryan Robinson, Alan Kehoe; Carl Walshe (Aji Sule, 63), Robert O'Reilly, Daire Doyle, Cian Kavanagh (Stephen Elliott, 63), Jamie Doyle; James English.
Subs not used: Greg Murray (gk), Dylan Kavanagh, Dylan Grimes, Lorcan Shannon.
Bookings: J English (47), A Kehoe (70).
Waterford: Kevin Burns; Robert Buckley, Ian Sinnott, Shane Mackey (Richard Tobin, 57), Dylan McGuire; James O'Brien, David O'Leary, Owen Wall, Aaron O'Connor (Sean Byrne, 68); Anthony McAlavey, Philly Gorman (Dean Reidy, 83).
Subs not used: Corey Chambers (gk).
Bookings: None.
Referee: Michael O'Connor.
Attendance: Unknown.
Extratime Man of the Match: Aaron O'Connor (Waterford United).
You can view Eoin Smith and Laszlo Geczo's photos from the game here.
