Waterford United 4
Finn Harps 0
WATERFORD MADE IT back-to-back wins at the RSC on Friday night with a 4-0 win over Finn Harps.
Ireland U21 international Aaron Drinan (2), Shane Duggan and Dean Walsh were all on target for Alan Reynolds’ side, who pick up their third Premier Division win of the season.
With neither side creating an early chance and struggling to keep possession, it took until the quarter hour before Caolan McAleer let fly from distance but Waterford captain Damien Delaney made an important block.
The visitors were on the attack again on 25 minutes, Niall Logue’s powerful strike forcing Matthew Connor into a good save.
Despite having early chances, Finn Harps were down to 10 men after 27 minutes when Mark Coyle picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Duggan. He had been yellow carded for a foul on Zack Elbouzedi inside the opening 10 minutes.
Waterford’s first real chance saw Ciaran Gallagher save from Kevin Lynch’s long-range strike. Gallagher was forced into an excellent save just minutes later when Elbouzedi’s corner found the head of Rory Feely but he couldn’t beat the ‘keeper.
But Gallagher was helpless to stop Waterford from taking the lead five minutes before half time. Scott Twine found Feely on the right and he crossed for Drinan to place his header into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Scott Twine almost doubled the lead one minute later after being played in by JJ Lunney but he couldn’t find a way through the Finn Harps defensive line.
Despite the man disadvantage, Daniel O’Reilly went close to levelling eight minutes into the second half but his free-kick was narrowly over Matthew Connor’s crossbar.
Waterford doubled their lead on 66 minutes. Duggan’s 20-yard strike wasn’t held by Gallagher and Drinan was on hand to fire home.
Reynolds’ side made sure of the points on 73 minutes when Twine did well down the right to pull the ball back for Duggan and he made sure from 12 yards.
Goal number four put the gloss on the win in the final minutes. Izzy Akinade raced to the ball ahead of Gallagher inside the right side of the penalty area and he crossed to find the head of Dean Walsh, who finished expertly over the retreating ‘keeper.
WATERFORD FC: Matt Connor, Rory Feely, Kevin Lynch (Dean Walsh 83), Damien Delaney, Maxi Kouogun, Karolis Chvedukas (Bastien Héry 69), Shane Duggan, JJ Lunney, Zack Elbouzedi (Izzy Akinade 76), Aaron Drinan, Scott Twine.
FINN HARPS: Ciaran Gallagher, John Kavanagh (Mark Russell 74), Daniel O’Reilly, Colm Deasy, Keith Cowan, Caolan McAleer, Mark Coyle, Sam Todd, Niall Logue, Nathan Boyle (Jacob Borg 37), Raffaele Cretaro (Tony McNamee 79).
Referee: Graham Kelly (Cork)
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