Derry City 4 Waterford FC 2

Waterford are still waiting for their opening win of the season and despite leading by two goals to nil they fell to superior Derry City side at the Brandywell in their SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division clash. Jon Daly made just one change from the game against Sligo Rovers with Cian Barrett coming in for Sam Glenfield in the midfield. As expected Waterford had to absorb some pressure in the opening stages but every player worked hard to close down the home side and they had a couple of chances with Lonergan and Amond combining well. They were rewarded for that endeavour on nineteen minutes when Lonergan launched a high ball deep into Derry territory. Brandon Fleming and Eddie Beach got their communication wrong and Jorgen Voilas kept chasing and touched the ball home. Waterford had two big chances immediately after through Padraig Amond and Trae Coyle but Beach got down well to deny the Blues. Derry responded as expected with Stephen McMullan pulling off a number of saves to deny the home side late in the half with Gavin Whyte and Josh Thomas both going close for the Candystripes. The Blues got the perfect start to the second half when Tommy Lonergan was upended inside the penalty area and Paul Norton pointed to the spot. Lonergan was handed the ball by Podge Amond and he fired past Beach with a little help from the woodwork. Derry pulled a goal back within a six minutes when Michael Duffy got his first of three with a free header at the back post and they were level fifteen minutes from time with an excellent individual goal from the Derry playmaker as he calmly controlled a Henry Rylah cross on his chest and fired the volley past McMullan. A raft of changes from Tiernan Lynch gave the home side fresh impetus but they had to wait until injury time and a dubious free kick for their third. Just moments before that Conor Carty saw his shot come off the woodwork but then a harsh hand ball call on Jordan Faria gave Derry the free and Duffy delivered a wonderful ball that was met by Dipo Akinyemi to put the Candystripes ahead. They made sure of the points two minutes later when John Mahon was alleged to have stopped a Derry shot with his hands and Duffy fired home the penalty for his hat-trick. Derry City: Beach; Cotter (Bannon 72'), Winchester (O Reilly 40'), P McClean, Stott, Doherty; Fleming, J McClean(Olayinka 72'); Duffy, Clarke (Akinyemi 54'), Whyte(Rylah 72'), Thomas. Waterford FC: McMullan, Heeney, Mahon, Cann, Couto, Barrett, Noonan, Voilas (McMenamy 65'), Coyle (Carty 76'), Amond, Lonergan (Faria 79') Referee: Paul Norton     Live Football on WLR is thanks to John Murphy Carpets