Clashing with the Candystripes

There have been goals galore when Waterford have met Derry City so far this season with results evenly split between the two. The four league meetings have been wildly exciting with twenty goals scored (ten each) giving an average of five goals per match. 

27th of February: Derry City 4 Waterford 2
Derry came into the year as many people’s tip to win the Premier Division having splashed out on signings like James McClean and Barry Cotter. It was, therefore, a huge surprise when Tiernan Lynch’s Candystripes found themselves two goals down to Jon Daly’s Waterford at the Brandywell in the fourth game of the season. A calamitous mix-up at the back allowed Jorgen Voilas to take advantage and give Waterford a 20th-minute lead and, five minutes into the second half, Adam O’Reilly took Tommy Lonergan down in the box with the Blues’ striker doubling the lead from a spotkick that went in off the post. 
The rest of the match was something of a nightmare for Waterford as the home side scored four and could have had even more. Michael Duffy pulled a goal back in the 58th minute with a simple header at the back post and levelled with a superb chest and left-footed volley as the match went into its final fifteen minutes. Dipo Akinyemi headed in the winning goal in the 90th minute and there was still time for Duffy to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot and make it 4-2 on a concerning night for the Blues. 

15th of May: Waterford 2 Derry City 2
Graham Coughlan’s first home game in charge of Waterford saw Derry come to the RSC and snatch a late draw to make it sixteen without a win for the Blues. The visitors took the lead after 18 minutes when a quick free kick led to Kevin dos Santos bundling the ball to the net via a deflection that wrong-footed Stephen McMullan. Waterford got back into the game in the 59th minute when Lonergan scored another penalty after James Olayinka caught John Mahon’s head with his boot. The Blues went ahead inside the final ten minutes with Kevin Long’s towering headed goal from a superb cross by Benny Couto, but Henry Rylah’s 94th-minute header from a yard out denied Waterford a first victory of the season.

3rd of July: Derry City 2 Waterford 4
An excellent performance gave the Blues a big win at the Brandywell after a crazy final twenty minutes. Lonergan scored a third penalty against Derry twelve minutes into the game and extended the lead with a stunning low strike from the edge of the box in the 70th minute. It got even better for Waterford when Pádraig Amond finished a fantastic team move seven minutes later, but the Blues were made to sweat when Derry pulled goals back through Rob Slevin and O’Reilly with five minutes still to play. However, Voilas sealed the win with a fourth in injury time when he skipped past goalkeeper Brian Maher thirty yards out and finished into an empty net.

14th of September: Waterford 2 Derry City 2
The most recent clash of the cup finalists was another highly entertaining affair with Adam O’Reilly scoring one of the greatest goals ever seen at the RSC. His incredible strike from 45 yards gave Derry an early lead was cancelled out when Evan McLaughlin blasted the ball to the net on the stroke of half time. A trademark Michael Duffy curler to the top corner put Mark Connolly’s men back in front at the start of the second half, but Amond stole a yard in the box to head in a 57th-minute equaliser from Couto’s corner. Lonergan’s header was cleared off the line in the final minute, but the Blues had to settle for a share of the spoils in another epic encounter between these two very evenly-matched teams. 

(Photos courtesy of Noel Browne)