No Rest for the Wicked

The international break may be over, but the Blues are still on hiatus as the FAI Cup quarter-finals take place this weekend. The schedule has given the first team a three-week break to regroup and many fans will have welcomed the pause too after three horrific defeats in a row. It will be a full 21 days without a game by the time the Blues take the field in Dalymount Park next week for a Friday night fixture against Bohemians followed by a Monday night match at home to Shamrock Rovers on the 22nd of September. While it’s certainly a quiet period for fans, there’s still been a lot of activity over the past fortnight with the growth of Waterford FC as an entity meaning there’s plenty happening within the academy, the women’s team, the community and in off-field planning. This general update is to help keep fans informed and aware of the work going on in the meantime. 

After the 2-0 loss in Cork on the 29th of August, the first team squad were given a few days off to recover, but I believe they have been putting in the hard graft needed to turn their fortunes around going into the final seven games of the season. They have even done double training sessions some days so the team should be near peak fitness for the forthcoming games. 

The PFAI visited the first team in SETU Arena today for a talk about their Gambling Awareness programme. The player’s union have been touring the country visiting each club to talk about the support that is available to them. The devastating effects of gambling addiction were searingly-illustrated by former Blue Shane O’Connor in his interview with the Sunday Independent in April which is highly-recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about the issue. 

 

Waterford FC CEO Steve Curwood was a busy man last week

 

Waterford FC’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Curwood was in town for business last week. I believe he was accompanied by a new financial officer for the Fleetwood Town group. Curwood, an elected member of the FA Council for the past nine years, held meetings with staff at all levels of the club with planning progressing for next year and beyond. The 53-year-old, who has been on Fleetwood’s Board of Directors since 2008 when the club were in the sixth tier of English football, also attended the Waterford Women’s game against Athlone Town last Wednesday.

Stephen McMullan was away on international duty with Northern Ireland for the week with World Cup qualifiers in Luxembourg City and Cologne. Wearing number 23, the loanee from Fleetwood was on the bench as the North beat Luxembourg 3-1 on Thursday through goals from Jamie Reid, Shea Charles and Justin Devenny. On Sunday evening, in the RheinEnergieStadion, Michael O’Neill’s team surprised Germany when West Brom’s Isaac Price cancelled out Serge Gnabry’s opener, but a second half goal from substitute Nadiem Amiri and a sublime free kick from Florian Wirtz saw the hosts to a 3-1 win. 

Romeo Akachukwu was on the bench for the Irish Under-21s for the first time last night in the 1-0 win against Andorra at Tallaght Stadium. The former Blues midfielder was called up to the squad by Jim Crawford for Ireland’s first two European Championship qualifiers, but didn’t make the matchday twenty for Thursday’s 2-1 win in Moldova. While the Southampton star wasn’t given his debut, two other substitutes made the difference yesterday with Liverpool’s Trent Kone Doherty setting Michael Noonan of Shamrock Rovers up for the winning goal. 

Erin O’Brien suffered a big hit to her ankle in Saturday’s defeat away to Peamount United and needed to be stretchered off into an ambulance and taken to hospital for scans. Fortunately, it wasn’t fractured and so manager Gary Hunt is hoping to have her back before the end of the season. Centre back Lauren Walsh is also absent through injury at the moment, but will hopefully be back for the final week or two of the season. Waterford host Wexford and Shamrock Rovers on the 20th and 27th of this month, travel to Galway on the 4th of October and finish up with Treaty United at the RSC on the 11th. 

Captain Danielle Griffin has departed the club as she has been accepted to train as a pilot with the Air Corps. Best wishes to her as she takes up the honour of serving her country. Danielle was the third of her family to represent the Blues after her older brothers Oisin and Killian both came through the academy. Goalkeeper Maeve Williams will take over the captaincy in her absence.

 

The Under-20s in training at SETU Arena last week

 

The importance of the Under-20s as the club’s de facto reserve team has increased in recent months with more involvement of young, local players in the first team. After a year where no academy players were given any minutes with the first team, manager John Coleman has shown more of a willingness to ‘give youth its day’ with Jesse Dempsey, Ronan Mansfield and Seán Keane taking the field at different stages. Mansfield’s appearance against Sligo Rovers last month was, astonishingly, the first league start by a player from Waterford in the team all season. The Blues have always been at their best with a mix of locals and imports throughout their history so it was concerning not to have a single start from a local player in the first three-quarters of the season, especially when there is no dearth of talented young players here.

To that end, it has been encouraging to see the U20s thriving in the elite stages of the highest level of underage football in the country. The Blues have earned back-to-back 4-1 wins against Galway United and UCD over the last two weekends and there are players there who can legitimately impact the first team given the opportunity. First teamers Mansfield, Keane, Navajo Bakboord, Jason Healy and Adam Queally all featured on Saturday. I was invited to visit training in Carriganore last week and took in some of the work being done by the excellent coaching staff of Eddie Nolan, Paddy Carey and Craig Dunphy. There are four or five players there who are ready for Premier Division football right now, and several more who will be soon, so we can be hopeful of seeing far more local involvement in the first team going forward, bringing passion, talent and value to the club. 

On another note, SETU Arena was a hub of activity on the night of my visit. I enjoyed watching the Down Syndrome Futsal training in the indoor hall as the Blues prepare for the national championships in November. The pre-academy boys and their parents were upstairs for a talk as they prepare to become next year’s Under-14s. There were four other academy teams training and doing gym work that evening too. The walking football team had been in action earlier in the day too so it was impressive to think how far the club has progressed with so much going on at once. Not so long ago, the Blues were the first team and not much else. 

The Under-17s, meanwhile, have their Mark Farren Cup final in Bray’s Carlisle Grounds on Saturday at 3.30pm. The match will be broadcast live on LOITV and sees them face a very strong St Patrick’s Athletic team. The Dubliners will, as ever, be favourites, but so were UCD in the semi-final and Derek Hearne’s Blues saw them off in extra-time. Waterford last reached the final in 2017 when they beat Sligo Rovers to claim the cup.

 

Waterford FC's DS-Futsal team in a training match

 

Around the rest of the league:

* The other three clubs in the relegation fight all see action in the FAI Cup this weekend. Cork City travel all the way to Ballybofey on Friday to play Finn Harps with City, having knocked Waterford out in the previous round, now heavily-favoured to reach the semi-finals. Sligo Rovers are on the road too as they face Kerry in an historic tie in Tralee. Then, on Sunday, Galway United visit St Pat’s for the last of the quarter-finals. It will be interesting to see how each relegation rival gets on this weekend while Waterford are at rest. Bohs host Derry City in a Premier Division clash on Friday night so John Coleman will presumably be in attendance to run the rule over the Blues’ next league opponents. 

* Galway’s 1-0 loss to Shelbourne last Sunday extended their horror run of league form with John Caulfield’s side now having picked up just two points from the last twenty-seven available. United remain four points behind Waterford with seven games to play and haven’t won a league match since May. One other piece of news for the Westerners is that they have been given approval from Galway GAA to play six matches at Pearse Park in Salthill next season while Eamon Deacy Park undergoes draining work. The temporary move has been approved by the FAI, but must still gain the backing of Croke Park before it can go ahead.

* Alan Reynolds has extended his contract as Bohemians manager through to the end of 2027, as have his coaching staff of Stephen O’Donnell and Derek Pender. 

* Derry City have parted ways with their Head of Recruitment, Michael Mackin, after less than three months in the job. Manager Tiernan Lynch recently described Mackin’s influence as “pivotal” to the club.

* Finally, one of the League of Ireland’s biggest stars, Jack Byrne, has moved on loan to Dubai Irish FC in the third division of the United Arab Emirates league. The move will last until Christmas when Byrne’s status will be reassessed to see if he has a future with Shamrock Rovers.