Rory's Story is a Fairytale for the 14s

Waterford FC’s Under-14s took the long road to Dundalk on Sunday for a tough Eddie Wallace Cup-tie at Oriel Park and emerged 2-1 victors after an epic battle. Evan Scully gave the Blues the lead after 28 minutes from a Daniel Rakel pass following some fantastic build-up play. Dundalk, now aided by a strong wind, drew level near the end of the second period and the momentum could have swung in favour of the much-fancied home side, but Waterford dug deep and showed tremendous character.

Midway through the third and final period, they got their reward when Rory Crowley powered a header to the net from a great corner kick by Terry Renwick. Derek Browne’s Blues had to soak up plenty of pressure in the final fifteen minutes, but were resolute and goalkeeper Jack Clarke made a brilliant one-on-one save near the end to ensure his side moved on to the next round.

Waterford’s defence was in top form from start to finish and really laid the foundations for a memorable win in a great contest, but it was a terrific overall team performance from the youngest Blues. Now, they face an even longer journey next weekend to play Sligo Rovers away on the AstroTurf pitch at The Showgrounds in the next round. 

The U14s starting team from a memorable cup win

There was cup joy for the Under-15s too as they came home from Kerry with a very hard-fought 1-0 win at Mounthawk Park. Midfielder Cruz Chong scored the only goal of the match in the 27th minute when Nathan Power pressured a defender, which allowed Chong to intercept a pass and slot coolly past the goalkeeper. Kerry gave as good as they got and were set to equalise only for centre back Rian Byrne to make a vital clearance off the line. 
Unfortunately, it was a match dominated by unnecessary refereeing interventions and an array of questionable cards including a late red which will rule the excellent Billy Carney out of the next match. Waterford were happy to hear the whistle once more after nine minutes of injury time and look to the next round of the Michael Hayes Cup when they face Shelbourne away.

Two late goals wrapped up a 5-2 win for Bohemians against Waterford’s Under-17s in the Mark Farren Cup at SETU Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Blues opened the scoring through Alex Capocci 27 minutes into the first half, but Bohs drew level ten minutes later courtesy of a Finn Duffy goal. The Dubliners added two more early in the second period from Israel Kawata Kanda and Ryan O’Neill in another contentious affair littered with yellow cards. Waterford had renewed hope when Conor Dempsey halved the deficit with eleven minutes remaining, but those late goals from Adrian Rascau and Max Dunne sent Bohemians through to the next round. 

The Under-23s were narrowly defeated in their latest Women’s Development League match away to Treaty United. Lily-Anne O’Meara’s 55th-minute strike was the only goal of Sunday’s game. The league now takes a break until the end of June because of school and college exams. Congratulations to Emma Bibby who made her first team debut for the Blues on Saturday before playing ninety minutes in this game.