Waterford FC 2
St Patrick’s Athletic 0
Brendan White reports from The RSC
WATERFORD FC MADE it back-to-back home wins in the Premier Division after a 2-0 victory against St Patrick’s Athletic tonight.
Goals from Kenny Browne and Bastien Hery gave the Blues the three points.
Izzy Akinade went close to giving the hosts the lead, with his effort deflecting off Kevin Toner early on. But from the resulting Paul Keegan corner, Kenny Browne rose to head past St Pat’s goalkeeper Barry Murphy from six yards.
The visitors’ main threat was coming down their right through Conan Byrne. His cross shortly before the half-hour found Dean Clarke, but the Pat’s attacker’s weak header failed to test Lawrence Vigouroux.
Waterford almost had a second after a goalkeeping mistake. Barry Murphy missed his attempted volley clearance with Izzy Akinade nipping in to put the ball in the back of the net, but assistant referee Brian Fenlon correctly ruled that the ball had gone out of play in the build-up.
Murphy was called into action within a minute of the second-half restart, as he was forced to keep out Akinade’s header.
Ryan Brennan volleyed over the crossbar for the home side, before Bastien Hery scored a goal-of-the-season contender for Waterford. The midfielder ran onto Courtney Duffus’ layoff, before firing past Murphy from 30 yards into the top corner.
Christy Fagan’s header from Simon Madden’s cross was as close as St Pat’s came to finding a way back into the game, as their opponents made it two wins from three this season.
Waterford FC: Lawrence Vigouroux; Rory Feely, Kenny Browne, David Webster, Garry Buckley; Stanley Aborah (Dylan Barnett 78), Paul Keegan, Bastien Hery, Gavan Holohan; Izzy Akinade, Courtney Duffus (Dean O’Halloran 63 (Derek Daly 78)).
St Patrick’s Athletic: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Kevin Toner, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham; Conan Byrne, Owen Garvan (Jamie Lennon 50’), Graham Kelly (Darragh Markey 59), Ryan Brennan; Dean Clarke, Chris Fagan (Jake Keegan 81).
Referee: Sean Grant