Galway United 1
Waterford FC 0
Waterford FC slipped to their first defeat in nine games when going down to a single goal against second placed Galway United in their SSE Airtricity First Division clash at Eamonn Deacy Park.
Killian Brouder’s 57th minute header was the difference in a game that saw Waterford battle to the final whistle, but this defeat will surely dampen any ambitions of winning automatic promotion back to the top flight.
In a first-half that saw both sides cancel each other out, it was Francely Lomboto that could have put his side in front on four minutes when he took a pass from David Hurley only to see his curling effort go wide of the far post
Hurley’s right-wing corner soon afterwards picked out the run of Stephen Walsh that the back post, but he failed to hit the target before Roland Idowu had an effort go wide at the other end on 19 minutes.
Cian Kavanagh took a goalbound Killian Brouder header off the line on 22 minutes, before a brilliant Blues counterattack yielded a chance for Idowu four minutes later, but Conor Kearns turned the ball around the posts.
The Blues broke at pace after Conor McCormack’s free-kick was charged down for the first chance of the second-half on 48 minutes, and when Roland Idowu got the ball out on the right, he raced at the Galway defence only to see his shot deflected out off defender Charlie Lyons for a fruitless corner.
Blues keeper Brian Murphy was called into action to make his first save of the contest on 53 minutes when he kept out an effort from Stephen Walsh before the netminder produced a stunning save three minutes later to tip a cracking effort from Manu Dimas.
It was from the resulting corner-kick in the 57th minute that saw the home side take the lead when David Hurley sent in a deep delivery to the back post that saw Killian Brouder get on the end of the ball, and he planted a header past keeper Murphy.
The Blues had two chances to level on 72 minutes when Patterson put a free-kick in the penalty area that saw Kilian Cantwell’s effort blocked, and when the rebound fell to Eddie Nolan, his header was cleared off the line by the chest of defender Brouder.
Phoenix Patterson fired over the bar from the left-side of the area five minutes later before David Hurley forced Brian Murphy into a good stop before Junior Quitirna nearly snatched a point in injury-time, but he blazed wide after a Patterson pass.
GALWAY UNITED: Conor Kearns, Conor O’Keeffe, Stephen Walsh, Charlie Lyons, Killian Brouder (Diego Portilla ’78), Manu Dimas (Gary Boylan ’67), David Hurley, Francely Lomboto (Wilson Waweru ’83), Conor McCormack, Ed McCarthy, Alex Murphy.
WATERFORD FC: Brian Murphy, Tunmise Sobowale, Eddie Nolan, Kilian Cantwell, Richard Taylor, Shane Griffin, Yassine En-Neyah (Niall O’Keeffe ’67), Roland Idowu, Junior Quitirna, Phoenix Patterson, Cian Kavanagh (Nigel Aris ’90).
Referee: Paul Norton (Dublin).
