Waterford

[ForzaForth]

As the scoreline suggests, comfortable win by the Youths in the RSC tonight against a Blues side who were pretty abject on the night. Wexford started with Graham, Shane N., Lasty, Killian, Peter, Eric, Craig, Shane D., Andy Mulligan and with Rocks and Danny up front. First ten minutes or so were uneventful with Drohan and Doherty doing well down the wings for the BLues but with little end product. Then, in the eleventh minute, Wexford won a free in their own half which was sent long and flicked behind by a Waterford defender for a corner. That corner was whipped in to the near post where Danny, completely free, had to stoop to head home for 1-0 to the Youths. On 18 minutes, another error in the Blues defence allowed Danny to run clear at Burns in the Waterford goal from the right, but he pulled his shot slightly and it went wide. Then, on 20 minutes, Danny was sent clear again, this time down the left, but he was left with a very tight angle and Burns was able to block the shot for a corner. Three minutes later, an awful back-pass in Waterford's own half went straight again to Danny, and this time he was able to knock it low past Burns for 2-0. Wexford were dominating midfield with their pace and strength repeatedly winning back the ball and this domination led to a third goal when Rocks won the ball deep in the Blues' half, knocked it forward to Danny who calmly volleyed it first-time with his left to the top left-hand corner for 3-0 and a first-half hat-trick for the Wexford front-man.

[ForzaForth]

First decent run by new signing Andy down the left almost created a fourth but it was cleared with difficulty by the last Waterford defender. A header over the bar by Craig and a blast over the bar by Danny on the run down the right then finished Wexford's efforts in the first period. Waterford's only real attempt during this period occurred with three minutes to go when Jack Doherty turned well inside the Youth's area but his shot went about a yard wide. 3-0 to the Youths at half-time.

[ForzaForth]

As often happens after the fireworks of a first half, the second half proved to be a bit of a damp squib. Waterford started the half by bringing on Fitzgerald for Gary Delaney in the middle of their back four. On eight minutes, Rocks set up Eric inside Waterford's penalty area, but his left-foot curler went a yard wide. On 17 minutes, Graham in the Wexford goal got down low to push away a decent Waterford effort. Waterford's Fitzgerald then got a yellow for a handball. Midway through the half, Sullivan came on surprisingly for Doherty for the Blues and then Deano for Wexford's Mulligan. With 15 minutes to go, a free header for Waterford at the far post was headed over when it looked easier to score, and that was more or less it. Daragh Walshe and new name to me, Allan or Adam Cox, were late substitutions for the Youths to leave the score at 3-0 for the away side at full-time.

[ForzaForth]

Best for Wexford were man-of-match Danny for his clinical finishing, but he was helped in no small measure by an awesome display from the Wexford midfield battlers of Eric, Rocks, Shane Dunne and Craig Wall who forced Waterford to cough up the ball again and again in dangerous areas. Only area I thought Wexford needed to work on was to get the ball more often to Mulligan so that he's in a position to run at his marker. For Waterford, only Drohan and Doherty would have been satisfied with their night's work. 3-0 to the Youths at full-time.