- Brendan White
- Fri, Jan 19 2018
Waterford made it two pre-season wins from two with a 4-1 win at home to Wexford on a cold Friday night at the RSC.
Wexford had a great early chance as two former Blues players combined. Sean Hurley drove forward from left back and found the run of Owen Wall – but his striker couldn’t find the far corner and rolled past the post.
Wall went close again when he picked up possession 25 yards from goal but his curling effort over Waterford keeper Niall Corbet drifted high above the crossbar.
Waterford took the lead after nine minutes. Derek Daly’s cross was deflected wide with Paul Keegan sending in the resulting corner. Patrick McClean saw his low effort blocked on the line before David Webster fired the rebound past Wexford keeper Danny Bolger.
The home side thought they’d made it 2-0 after 14 minutes. Ismahil Akinade was fouled and Paul Keegan stepped up to curl the ball into the top corner, only for referee Andrew Mullally to award a free kick to Wexford for an infringement as the kick was taken.
Waterford did make it 2-0 after 24 minutes through Akinade. Sander Puri made progress down the right before his strike was cleared off the line by Wexford centre-back Ross Kenny, but Akinade was on-hand to head the ball past the line of Wexford defenders to double the lead.
It was 3-0 on the stroke of half time. After Puri’s strike was deflected over, Keegan fired an in-swinging corner to the front post. Bastien Hery looked to get a touch but the ball struck the unlucky Dean George on its way over the line.
Wexford scored 11 minutes into the second half with a great sweeping move. Shane Barnes played a brilliantly weighted ball through for Aaron Dobbs to race past McClean and fire low past Corbet.
Four minutes later, Waterford added another their fourth goal to make it 4-1. Gavan Holohan picking up possession and firing an unstoppable strike into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area to make it two wins from two in a week.
Waterford: Niall Corbet; Rory Feely, Patrick McClean, David Webster, Trialist A; Sander Puri, Gavan Holohan, Paul Keegan, Bastien Hery, Derek Daly; Ismahil Akinade
Subs used: John Kavanagh, Darryl Walsh, Dean Walsh, Dean O’Halloran, Shane Griffin, John Martin, Trialist B, Trialist C
Wexford: Danny Bolger; Ross Kenny, Owen McCormack, Conor Sutton; Liam McCartan Aaron O’Connor, Chris Kenny, Dean George, Sean Hurley; Danny Doyle, Owen Wall.
Subs used: John Morgan, Shane Barnes, Mark Slater, Aaron Dobbs, Mikey Byrne, Colum Feeney, Trialist A, Trialist B, Trialist C.
Referee: Andrew Mulally.
Attendance: 500 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Gavan Holohan (Waterford).
