Waterford Utd - 4 St Patrick's Ath - 2 This game, played at a furious pace, had the fans at a packed RSC on the edges of their seats, proverbial or otherwise, throughout.
Bolstered by the midweek win against Drogheda, Waterford appeared confident and relaxed from the start. In contrast, little or nothing went right for the visitors and while manager Eamonn Collins had no complaints after the game, he must have been disappointed.
Jimmy McGeough, manager of Waterford, said the result bore out his assertion that the hammering by Shelbourne had been an aberration.
Waterford opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 35 minutes after goalkeeper Chris Adamson felled Vinnie Sullivan. Alan Reilly converted.
The home side went two up 15 minutes into the second half. Thomas Hughes crossed from the right to Reilly, who neatly stepped inside Karim El Khebir before unleashing a powerful shot on the run from eight yards.
St Patrick's had gone close on several occasions and finally breached the United defence on 69 minutes. A Colm Foley header from a Keith Fahy corner was only parried by goalkeeper Dan Connor and Tony Bird pounced at point-blank range.
Ten minutes later, a Fahy free from 40 yards sailed untouched to the Waterford net but referee Damien Hancock pointed out that he had awarded an indirect free kick and disallowed the score.
On 81 minutes Waterford won their second penalty when Robbie McGuinness took down Reilly. Reilly himself took the kick to record his first hat-trick for the Blues and the first for a Waterford player since Eric Bradley scored three against Sligo Rovers on November 19th, 2000.
In the 84th minute, St Pat's scored again, Bird heading home a Fahy free.
Waterford got their fourth in the second minute of time-added-on, when Livingston failed to deal with a long ball from midfield and Wayne Fitzgerald struck from the edge of the area.
WATERFORD UNITED: Connor, Hughes, Breen, Byrne, Reilly, Clifford (Cosgrove, 87 minutes), Mulcahy, Fitzgerald, Waters, O'Neill, Sullivan (Murphy, 73 minutes). Substitutes not used: Cosgrave, Rockett, Morris.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Adamson, Prenderville, Holt (Livingston, 56 minutes), El Khebir, Maguire, Foley, Ozam, Byrne (Fahy, 28 minutes), Bird, George (Freeman, 73 minutes), McGuinness. Substitutes not used: Donnelly, Gallagher.
Referee: D Hancock (Dublin)
