Waterford FC 0 - Drogheda 7
Men against Boys is the simple way to put it.
It's important to remember that all the events which played out on the field happened between a senior team who are mid-table and an U19 side who haven’t played a competitive game since December 5th.
In the early goings, Drogheda applied steady pressure on the home side, earning a corner in the 6th minute.
An aimless kick out from the Blues goalkeeper returned possession to the visitors allowing an attack to be formed, but Drogheda were unable to capitalise on their efforts.
The U19 side were not short on confidence, hassling and harrying the Drogs, in so doing, mostly pinning them back into their own half.
The opening quarter of the game mostly comprised of the visiting side retaining possession despite plenty of work and exuberance from the home team.
The scoring was opened on 16 minutes for Drogheda by Darragh Markey after some incisive passing through the lines.
With the exception of the opening goal, the home side dealt well with the attacking moves from Drogheda but were susceptible to being caught in possession.
In the 24th minute, the more experienced side was rewarded again with a corner whipped I to the box and struck home by Mark Doyle. The Waterford keeper Kyle Cooke leaped to stop the shot, but it sailed into the top right corner.
That goal hailed the opening of the flood gates and the undeveloped Waterford team showed their inexperience when Drogheda upped the pace of passing and struck again through the left boot of Dane Massey just two minutes after the previous goal.
The next few minutes would have seen a more experienced team cool their nerves and settle down, but again Drogheda were able to up the ante and apply weighty pressure on their hosts.
Drogheda were well rewarded down the left-wing - finding space regularly and easily, with every cross looking threatening.
Darragh Markey almost had his second on the 31st minute, but a super-save from the Blues keeper kept the game in reach.
The Blues best chance of scoring came in the 33rd minute through Graham O Reilly’s corner, but it was struck long and sailed over and box.
Drogheda could have been two goals to the better on the 35th minute, but a badly hit corner and being caught offside kept the score to 3 nil.
The three-goal lead wasn’t long for this world as the visitors went 4 nil up through Chris Lyons who powered a header home in the 38th minute with the young Blues scrambling to defy his effort inside the box.
A corner for the now boisterous Drogs on the 41st minute looked dangerous, but luckily for Waterford, the ax was not dropped just yet.
A penalty was awarded to Mark Doyle on the stroke of halftime after he was hacked down inside the box – the Blues goalkeeper Kyle Coke did get a hand to it, but it was not enough to prevent the ball bulging the back of the net.
With the halftime whistle sounding, a dejected-looking Blues side trudged to the changing rooms – a beaten docket with 45 minutes left to play.
The second half provided little by the way of inspiring play.
With the visitors, less able to break down the Waterford defense for the opening minutes.
The only real chance of the third quarter for the newly-promoted side came through their captain Jake Hyland in the 69th minute.
With twenty minutes left to play, the U19 side had settled into proceedings, but it was too little too late to mount a challenge.
If the performance in the second half had been shown in the opening stanzas, the result could have been far different, but with the clock starting to edge towards the red, the tale went from bad to worse on the 75th minute when Dane Massey struck an unstoppable volley with his left foot, sailing past the Blues netminder.
The final nail in the coffin was hammered in by Killian Philips who struck to make it 7-nil in the 87th minute.
The fledgling Waterford side can not be knocked for their efforts. They were facing a mammoth task from the first whistle, and with so little game time in their legs, the result can only be expected.
If the scoresheet had read 8 or 9 nil it would not have been overly surprising.
Men against Boys, is the only way the game can be described. It was noticeable leaving the ground how many of the players were being collected by their parents - that tells the tale of the evening.
The worrying thing is that the same side will likely take the field at the Showgrounds next Saturday where Sligo Rovers will be lying in wait.
Goals - Darragh Markey 16, Mark Doyle 24, Dane Massey 26 & 75, Chris Lyons 38 & 45, Killian Philips 87.
