Waterford FC 3 Athlone Town 1
(Waterford win 4-2 on aggregate)
17 year old Romeo Akachukwu was the hero as Waterford FC brushed aside the challenge of Athlone Town at the RSC to advance to next weekend's First Division Playoff final in style with a 3-1 win at the RSC.
Keith Long made two changes with Derek Osede returning from injury in the centre of defence while Dean McMenamy also started with Akachukwu and Sam Perry dropping to the bench.
Sam Sargeant made three very good first half saves to deny the visitors is what was a half that lacked any invention.
An inspired substitution just after the hour saw Akachukwu enter the game and he took just three minutes to break the deadlock. Ryan Burke's throw found Ronan Coughlan and he turned goalwards before slipping the ball to Akachukwu who slotted home.
The visitors were level 7 minutes later when Frantz Pierrot converted a penalty after he was brought down by Derek Osede but Akachukwu restored the lead with his second on 78 minutes, again being put through by Coughlan.
And the youngster got his hattrick deep in injury time when he broke from midfield before firing past Enda Minogue to the bottom corner.
Waterford FC: S Sargeant, D Power, R Burke, G Phillips, D Osede (K Cantwell 75'), R McDonald (N O Keeffe 75'), B Baggley, R Idowu, C Parsons, D McMenamy (R Akachukwu 61'), R Coughlan.
Athlone Town: E Minogue, G Fuentes, J Kavanagh (J McGlone 7', D Gavin 60'), N Van Geenan, D McKenna, P Hickey, A Connolly, F Pierrot, V Dolia (S Forbes 80'), O Duffy, M Baker (M Leal 80')
Referee: G Colfer (Wicklow)
