The Waterford footballers went down to Carlow by 1-11 to 0-10 under the Saturday night lights at the SETU Arena.
A second half goal from Niall Hickey gave the visitors their first win of the Division 4 campaign. Darragh Foley fired six frees as Niall Carew's side continued their unbeaten start. Brian Lynch shot eight points for Waterford (seven frees) while Dermot Ryan and Conor Murray also split the posts. A stop start game featured 57 frees.
Carlow centre back Jordan Morrissey curled over a peach off his right boot from 45 metres to open the scoring. Three Brian Lynch frees left Waterford 3-1 ahead after seven minutes. The visitors replied with five unanswered points including three Darragh Foley frees. Lynch's fourth free was Waterford's first score in 23 minutes. Déise captain Dermot Ryan added another off the ground before the break as Carlow led 6-5.
Foley converted two more Carlow frees on the restart before Lynch landed Waterford's first from play on 42 minutes.
A minute later, Foley won a high ball and laid it off to Niall Hickey who finished low to the net (1-8 to 0-6). Foley and Conor Crowley extended the lead to eight. Foley then crashed a ball off the crossbar. Waterford battled to the end as Conor Murray and Lynch raised late white flags.
Ephie Fitzgerald's side will travel to Sligo on February 19.
Scorers for Waterford: B Lynch 0-8 (7fs), D Ryan (f), C Murray 0-1 each.
Scorers for Carlow: D Foley 0-6 (6fs), N Hickey 1-1, J Morrissey, R Dunphy, C Crowley, S O'Neill (f) 0-1 each.
Waterford: B Kirwan; L Fennell, D O Cathasaigh, C O Cuirrin; D Corcoran, B Looby, J O'Sullivan; C Maguire, D Guiry; D Ryan, B Lynch, M Curry; D Fitzgerald, C Murray, M Kiely.
Subs: R O'Connell for Looby (HT), J Devine for Fitzgerald (45), E McGrath-Butler for Maguire (46), D Ready for Kiely (53), R Browne for O'Sullivan (67).
Carlow: C Cunningham; S Buggy, M Bambrick, D Curran; S Bambrick, J Morrissey, C Doyle; N Hickey, L Brennan; J Moore, C Moran, J Clarke; R Dunphy, D Foley, C Crowley.
Subs: C Hulton for Brennan (23), E Molloy for Curran (53), A Amond for Clarke (60), S O'Neill for Dunphy (71).
Referee: D Murnane (Cork)
