All About Eva

Eva O’Gorman’s remarkable four-goal haul earned a late comeback win for the Waterford FC Under-23s in the Women’s Development League as they beat CK United 5-2 at the RSC on Sunday. The visitors took an early lead when Leah Harper latched onto a ball over the top in just the third minute and smashed to the net. Brendan White’s Waterford regained parity after 32 minutes when Amy O’Connor headed home an Emma Bibby corner, but Nora Purcell put Carlow-Kilkenny back ahead early in the second half. That’s when O’Gorman took over the game with four goals in a twenty-minute spell. The first, on 73 minutes, came from another corner delivered by Bibby with O’Gorman stealing in at the back post to equalise. 

CK United may have felt they had done enough to earn a point with the scores level heading into the final minute of normal time, but O’Gorman had other plans with three more goals in the dying embers of the match. First, the Adamstown native buried a tremendous cross from the right by Rachael Duff with an excellent strike low to the corner of the goal to put the Blues ahead. Then, within sixty seconds, she scored another with a carbon copy of that goal - Duff crossing from the right again and O’Gorman finishing into the bottom corner. That wrapped up the win and Eva’s hat-trick, but she went on to score one more deep into stoppage time. It came from another long kick from goalkeeper Mollie Levingston, followed by a glorious through ball from Ruby Norris (who has impressed with the first team in recent weeks) with O’Gorman finishing with a flourish for her fourth and a thrilling win for Waterford. 

 

Eva O'Gorman was in unstoppable form (Cian Kelly)

The Blues Under-20s earned a point in a tough fixture away to Cobh Ramblers on Saturday and remain top of the Tier Two (South) table. First teamers Jordan Faria and Goforth Amedu were in the starting eleven along with captain Noah O’Brien and Mason Murphy – both of whom were called up to Graham Coughlan’s squad for the first time for Friday night’s draw with St Patrick’s Athletic. Romeo Lapite (main photo - Rafal Bacela) gave Waterford the lead at St Colman’s Park with a fine strike in the 34th minute, but Ciaran Galvin levelled for Cobh eleven minutes into the second half and it remained 1-1 at the final whistle.

Waterford’s Under-14s bowed out of the Eddie Wallace Cup at the quarter-final stage after yet another away fixture in the competition. The Blues had previously secured superb wins on the road at Dundalk and Sligo Rovers, but couldn’t repeat the feat away to Bray Wanderers despite a very good performance overall in the intense heat of Sunday afternoon. The Wicklow club went ahead midway through the first period with a goal from Sam Kennedy. Daire Herlihy equalised for Waterford from an Aaron English assist, but two goals from Zalan Csomai saw Bray through to the final four on a 3-1 final scoreline. 

Six Waterford FC Academy players have been invited to the new FAI National Pathways Programme having been identified as some of the best young footballers in the country. The trio of Rian Byrne, Cruz Chong and Nathan Power will be in the Under-16s category while Jonathan Akaehomen, Aaron English and Daniel Rakel will join the Under-15s section. 

The National Pathways Programme is a residential camp for players throughout the country, selected as having high potential, to benefit from tailored coaching and experience in a high-performance environment. Players will learn from a variety of football coaching, position-specific training, athletic development, guidance on decision-making and more. The players will attend from Tuesday to Thursday for eight weeks through the summer. 

Under the watchful eye of the FAI Technical Director – Waterford’s Shane Robinson – the overall aim is to improve talent identification and player development with increased contact time at an elite level. It promises to be an exciting opportunity for the six young Blues.