Waterford's 'Wrongful Dismissal' from the 2024 Cup

This (above) was the winning goal that was denied the Blues with the last kick of the ninety minutes the last time they faced Athlone Town in the cup. The First Division side went on to win in extra time in a game blighted by referee David Dunne’s errors.

Only four players of the thirty-two who featured that night are still with their respective clubs now. Pádraig Amond, who opened the scoring, was joined by Dean McMenamy and Sam Glenfield - a newcomer at the time having joined on loan from Fleetwood the previous month. Athlone‘s only survivor is Aaron Connolly, who levelled to make it 2-2 late in extra time.

The biggest controversy came with the game scoreless in the 38th minute when Waterford were reduced to ten men. Referee Dunne sent Darragh Leahy off for a phantom striking incident that stunned both teams and was correctly, and decisively, overturned days later. It was the first time ever that a red card has been overturned under a new rule introduced the previous year that allowed television evidence to be used. The evidence showed that no strike had occurred and it was verified as a “wrongful dismissal”.

That left Waterford playing eighty minutes with ten men, but, despite the disadvantage, they took the lead though Amond shortly before half time after goalkeeper Lee Axworthy had made numerous saves and McMenamy had seen a shot cleared off the line. Amond, for once, squandered a chance to double the lead and the hosts were punished in the 78th minute when Robbie McCourt rifled a clearance into the top of his own net. Substitute Connor Evans had a goal disallowed near the end when Amond was controversially deemed to have interfered with play while in an offside position.

 

Pádraig Amond celebrates scoring against Athlone Town

Then, in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Barry Baggley swung a corner in deep into the six-yard box and Darragh Power stabbed home in a scramble. The ball was very clearly a yard over the line, but the officials contrived to rule the goal out and Dunne immediately blew the final whistle. Manager Keith Long was incensed and was shown a red card for his furious protests.

Into extra time and Amond scored his second when he turned a Ryan Burke shot cleverly into the net to regain the lead for the Blues. With Waterford’s ten men still on top throughout the action, it appeared that they would escape into the quarter-finals even when Amond was denied a hat-trick by a great clearance off the line.

But the final few minutes of extra time were disastrous as Athlone’s one-man advantage began to tell. First, Connolly equalised after 115 minutes when he found space in a crowded box. Then, with penalties looming, Athlone found a winning goal when goalkeeper Louis Jones failed with a poor effort to stop substitute Peter McGregor heading home deep into the 121st minute of a chaotic match.

Athlone lost 4-1 at home to Drogheda in the last eight with the Louth club going on to win the cup for the second time in their history. Let’s hope for a fair game tomorrow under referee Alan Patchell and his team. Athlone will have nothing to lose and are capable of causing an upset on their own merits if the Blues take their eye off the ball.