What a way to start the year! A 3-2 victory away from home secured our first three points of the year with goals coming in from Rowan McDonald, Tommy Lonergan and Conan Noonan. Block E were in full voice from start to finish playing a key part in the end.
FIRST HALF HEROICS
The game started off even with both sides looking up for it, but it was Waterford who broke the deadlock in the 12th minute of the game when Sargeant played a bobbly ball to Wolfe which was dispossessed by Rowan McDonald who made no mistake in capitalising on an unfocused Sargeant to strike a lovely ball into the far right corner. From then on it seemed that Sligo weren’t playing well enough. Our second goal comes in from a Noonan free kick on the left side of the park, as its played to the right side of the box, which is met by Mcdonald’s head and put right in on the goal line, leaving Lonergan no mistake to hit a bullet header into the back of the net, doubling our lead.
SECOND HALF HIGHS
As we entered the second half, Sligo seemed to had received a strongly worded half time talk from John Russell as they found their rhythm, breaking through the left side of the park, Will Fitzgerald cuts through the left hand side of the box, laying the ball through Bakboord’s legs, leaving Owen Elding a perfect opportunity to slot one into a wide open net to pull one back. The hearts of every Waterford fan dropped as we concede a penalty in the 55th minute after Dean McMenamy tugs on Fitzgeralds jersey, just pulling him down on the edge of the box. Jeers and noise from the away end attempt to put off Cian Kavanagh as he steps up to the 12 yard spot. The penalty, however, was lackluster as Kavanagh’s penalty is saved by Steve McMullan, pushing it out for a corner. Off the corner, Wolfe attempts s shot, which is blocked on 2 separate occasions, as John Mahon slips, handing the ball off to Noonan, who plays the ball out to Podge on the left wing, feeding back into Noonan who collectively slots the ball past Sargeant to extend our lead to 3. McMullan is booked just minutes later for time wasting. As we entered the last 20 minutes, Sligo began to claw their way back into the match, with an absolute rocket of a shot from Jad Hakiki, bouncing the ball of the inner crossbar to decrease the deficit to just a mere 1. After a compilation of injury and time wasting, an additional 8 minutes of stoppage time was awarded. Sligo began battering the pressure now with chance after chance. In the 99th minute of the game, an unreal chance just slips away from Sligo as an attempted shot deflected softly off the crossbar falls right onto Owen Eldings foot 2 yards from the line, but Ryan Burke heroically manages to block it off the line. Full time whistle blew after 11 extra minutes securing all 3 points return to the RSC. My MOTM goes to McMullan as a penalty save and a stellar performance on debut night arguably played a very key role in this victory.
Join me next week as we take on reigning champions Shelbourne for our first home game of the 2025 season
Chat to ya soon
Conor (mon blues)