Waterford FC are riding high at the top of the League of Ireland Premier Division table following their late Munster derby comeback to defeat Cork City at 2-1.
Alex Nolan had put the Leesiders in front early on, but second half goals from captain Padraig Amond and Kyle White secured all three points to make it three wins from four so far this season.
Amond was delighted to send 3,000 supporters home happy.
“Nice, isn’t it? Three points”, says Amond. “Nice to get the first home win this season. I think that was the most important thing, the most pleasing thing out tonight. I spoke about before the game with the lads in the huddle. For a professional, as we are, these games are always going to mean a lot, but they’re always going to mean more to the supporters.  They’re the ones that they’ll look at. The games at home against Cork are the ones that they want to win. It was great to get the win tonight for those supporters.”
While top of the league early in the campaign, Amond says they won’t be getting ahead of themselves and their full focus remains one game at a time.
3 March 2025; Kyle White of Waterford, centre, celebrates after scoring with team mates Tommy Lonergan, right, and Conan Noonan after scoring their side’s second goal during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Waterford and Cork City at the Regional Sports Centre in Waterford. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
“We’re not getting carried away. We know it’s going to be a tough, tough league. We know how competitive it is. We know that results can swing either way. Obviously, we had a great win up in Sligo, first game of the season. Stevie saving the penalty, changed that game. Then we had a big performance up in Derry the other night – but it was important we backed it up tonight.”
Manager Keith Long echoed those sentiments – and was delighted to pick up a first home win of the season.
“Delighted with the second half performance, the response – because we were down gears in the first half. We were off it and we were second. We probably should have gone in 2-0 down with the chance Alex Nolan had. We rode our luck. Got away with that a little bit – but I think we deserved to win the second half. We were relentless even before they went down to ten men.  It was wave after wave of attack. We asked questions of their back four. Kyle White pops up with another goal from left wing back. So delighted for him – and then Podge. It’s a really, really good goal. It’s not easy to follow up Friday-Monday performances in this league. It’s a massive six points for us. It’s a great start to the season.”
