The opening 35 minutes of this game was hard on the eye with neither side able to gain control of the ball and you could be forgiving for thinking that this was a friendly game at times as there was little tempo to the play and a non-existent atmosphere, which in truth suited the Blues down to the ground.
Sean Callan did have a header over the bar from a corner kick on 17 minutes before Dean O'Halloran ran at the Rovers defence that him stopped in his tracks by Greg Bolger, who saw yellow, but the resulting Kevin Lynch free kick was over Alan Mannus' crossbar.
With the Blues more than holding their own and under no pressure whatsoever, they gifted the hosts the breakthrough goal on 36 minutes. Maxi Kouogun played the ball to Rob Slevin in the centre back position, but after he left his back pass considerable short, former Blues player Graham Cummins took full advantage as he drilled a first-time shot past Matt Connor from 16 yards.
One would have thought that this goal would spell disaster for Reynolds' men, but they were back on level terms within five minutes. Karolis Chvedukas was brought to ground on the right-side of the area and JJ Lunney's sublime delivery was superbly headed to the net by Dean O'Halloran for a deserved goal.
The big turning point of the contest came in the second minute of three added minutes when Danny Lafferty got free down the left in front of the Waterford dugout before he was brought to ground by a late and wild challenge from Karolis Chvedukas. It left referee Derek Tomney with a decision to make and the man in red had no hesitation in reaching to his back pocket for the same colour card as his jersey. The Blues were down to ten.
Dylan Watts was the man that put in the resulting free kick that caused panic in the area and after Graham Burke's initial effort came back off the post with Connor beaten, it was Graham Cummins that somehow managed to crack the close-range rebound off the same post when he should have scored.
Rovers introduced both Aaron McEneff and Jack Byrne at half time as they tried to put the tie to bed with the aid of an extra man. It took them all of six minutes to crack up the Waterford defence when Byrne set up Danny Lafferty down the left and Graham Burke gave Matt Connor little chance with a close-range finish.
It was Burke that should have put the game out of Waterford's reach on 55 minutes when he took a pass from Lafferty, but this time the ball came back off the post before Jack Byrne went close soon afterwards with a cracking effort from the edge of the area that flew inches over the bar.
Aaron Greene did have two glorious chances late on to seal the deal for Rovers. After getting in behind Maxi Kouogun to get on the end of a super Sean Kavanagh pass on 82 minutes, he was denied by an excellent Connor save before he somehow managed to blaze over the bar from an adventurous position two minutes from time.
In a game played in front of a 1824 crowd, the majority were nearly silenced in second half injury time when JJ Lunney slipped the ball to Zack Elbouzedi, who fired in a shot that wasn't held by Mannus and it was former Carrick United player Lee Grace that blocked away the rebound from Walter Figueira.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Alan Mannus, Sean Callan, Lee Grace, Roberto Lopes, Ethan Boyle, Greg Bolger (Aaron McEneff `46), Dylan Watts, Danny Lafferty (Sean Kavanagh `74), Graham Burke, Aaron Greene, Graham Cummins (Jack Byrne `46).
WATERFORD FC: Matt Connor, John Kavanagh, Rob Slevin, Maxi Kouogun, Kevin Lynch, Georgie Poynton, Karolis Chvedukas, Tom Holland (Zack Elbouzedi `78), JJ Lunney, Will Fitzgerald (Sam Bone `46), Dean O'Halloran (Walter Figueira `69).
Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin)
Report from Matt Keane
