Dundalk 0
Waterford 0
Niall Newberry reports from Oriel Park
IT WAS STALEMATE at Oriel Park tonight as Dundalk and Waterford played out a rather entertaining scoreless draw in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
A draw for Stephen O’Donnell’s side may have stopped the rot of three straight defeats, but failure to score in four consecutive games leaves them propping up the table.
The Lilywhites started brightly in front of a subdued home crowd and had their first chance inside the opening five minutes, with Robbie Benson driving forward before having a shot from outside the penalty box saved by Waterford goalkeeper Sam Sargeant.
Ciaran McGuckin was next to try his luck shortly afterwards, but his low drive went straight at the visiting stopper, while the lively Sam Durrant – starting for the first time this season – cut inside the edge of the area before firing over the roof of the crossbar.
Waterford had their first clear opening on 23 minutes when a Connor Parsons cross was met by the diving head of the free-scoring Padraig Amond, but Dundalk goalkeeper Ross Munro produced a save at point-blank range with his feet to keep the game scoreless.
At the opposite end, Durrant saw an attempt kept out by Sargeant before Benson’s shot on the follow-up was headed off the line by former Dundalk defender Robbie McCourt.
Dundalk’s assistant head coach, Patrick Cregg, was sent off by referee Kevin O’Sullivan on 36 minutes following an off-the-ball incident with Waterford defender Ryan Burke.
The hosts continued to push for an opener as the first half neared its conclusion, with Durrant cutting inside Grant Horton before curling an effort inches wide of the target.
The Lilywhites were enjoying the better of it at this point, however Munro had to make himself big to deny Barry Baggley after a long ball over the top spun off Zak Johnson.
Archie Davies had two attempts either side of half-time – his first-time volley miles off target on 44 minutes, before firing wide on 50 minutes after carrying the ball a long way.
A tame effort from Durrant was never troubling Sargeant, while at the other end, Parsons got himself in between Johnson and Davies, but Munro was able to tidy up.
Dundalk had a big chance to break the deadlock on 77 minutes as two of their substitutes combined – Daryl Horgan slipped in Cameron Elliott, who evaded the challenge of several Waterford adversaries, but the Scotsman’s final attempt was straight at Sargeant.
Waterford themselves had a chance to win it shortly afterwards, as Maleace Asamoah’s shot from outside the box had Munro at full stretch before fizzing just wide of his post.
As the game neared its end, Ryan O’Kane had a shot battered away by Sargeant, while Elliott had a late penalty appeal waved away after going down under the challenge of Niall O’Keeffe – the referee instead electing to yellow-card the Dundalk man for diving.
Dundalk’s last chance to win it came in the third minute of stoppage-time after Johnson headed well wide from Scott High’s set-piece delivery as the match finished scoreless.
Dundalk: Ross Munro; Archie Davies, Zak Johnson, Louie Annesley, Hayden Muller; Scott High, Zak Bradshaw; Ciaran McGuckin (Ryan O’Kane 67), Robbie Benson (Daryl Horgan 67), Sam Durrant (Robbie Mahon 76); Jamie Gullan (Cameron Elliott 67).
Waterford: Sam Sargeant; Grant Horton, Kacper Radkowski, Robbie McCourt, Ryan Burke; Barry Baggley (Niall O’Keeffe 75), Rowan McDonald; Maleace Asamoah (Connor Evans 82), Harvey Macadam (Romeo Akachukwu 73), Connor Parsons; Padraig Amond.
Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan
Attendance: 2,243