Waterford FC 3 Galway United 2

Waterford captain Padraig Amond rolled back the years to produce a master class as Waterford returned to winning ways in a narrow and tense win over arch rivals Galway United at the RSC last night.

On a poignant night, where a minutes silence was impeccable observed by the 2166 strong crowd, in memory of the English family who were buried earlier in the afternoon, Amond was involved in everything good about the Blues in the opening period but the Tribesmen refused to back down and the Blues had to wait until the final minute to secure the points.

Amond nearly got the opener on fourteen minutes but his header was cleared off the line by Anthony O Connor. But four minutes later the goal was breached by the Carlow native when he met a delicate cross from Tommy Lonergan and directed the ball beyond Hugo De Cunha.

De Cunha denied Amond minutes later when he had to stretch back full length to touch a volley over the cross bar after Amond controlled the ball on his chest before trying to loop the ball to the net with an almost perfect volley.

And he did double the advantage in injury time at the end of the first half when he bicycle kicked a perfect ball to the net as the Blues looked to be in complete control.

However, John Caulfield’s double change at the break saw Francly Lomboto and Matty Wolfe introduced and they had an immediate impact. Lee Devitt pulled one back on 52 minutes when he took advantage of a mistake in the Blues’ defence and Lomboto was involved again when he sent Stephen Walsh away eight minutes later where he scored an almost identical goal to Devitt to level the game.

However, Waterford continued to press forward looking for a winner but they had to wait until the final minute for the winner and it was Tommy Lonergan who provided the goods as he buried a Couto cross to the net to send the RSC into raptures.

Waterford FC: McMullan, Houston (Voilas 80′), Cann, Mahon, Long, Couto, Mawene (Heeney 80′), McLaughlin, Noonan (McMenamy 80′), Amond, Lonergan

Galway United: De Cunha, Barrett, O Connor, Facchineri, Devitt (Thiam 90′), Hurley, Bolger (Connolly 90′), Twardek (Lomboto 46′), Walsh (Pierrot 74′), McCarthy (Wolfe 46′), Keohane

Referee: Oliver Moran