The Darkest Hour

30/9/16: The darkest hour is before the dawn. The club was in a very different state this time ten years ago. Just 247 people watched a record 8-1 defeat to UCD with the club on its last legs and the future looking extremely bleak.

It was an extremely young team lining out for the Blues. They all gave 100% and were some of the most important players we’ve ever had because they kept the club alive against all the odds. There was no shame in it because they were just completely overmatched. They carried the club through troubled times and, within two months, the outlook changed completely.

 

 

Attendances had been abysmal that season - not helped by the decision to hike prices by 50% at the start of the year. That calamity was reversed mid-season, but the life was sucked out of the club and we ended up with a low of just 167 at the game against Athlone in August. In fact, three consecutive home games drew a ‘crowd’ totalling just 569 that summer.

By the time we played UCD, we virtually had a youth team with mainly locals playing for minor expenses (if they were lucky). UCD had a young team too, but loaded with quality. From Ireland and Celtic’s Liam Scales to five-time league winner Gary O’Neill as well as cup winner Greg Sloggett. The league’s second-highest all-time goalscorer, Jason Byrne, scored twice. So did Daire O’Connor with one apiece for Georgie Kelly, Jason McClelland and Tomás Boyle.

Waterford actually equalised 11 minutes in when Dylan McGuire sent a ball into the box from fifty yards and it flew over Niall Corbet’s head to the net. The Students scored three in four minutes in the first half and, when it seemed the ship had been steadied a bit, scored another four in seven minutes late in the game. It matched the Blues’ biggest ever defeat (to Shamrock Rovers at Kilcohan in 1963) and has only been beaten by the 7-0 defeat to Drogheda United at the RSC during COVID restrictions as the club’s record loss.

 

 

Manager Roddy Collins admitted there was nothing he could do. “What do people expect?” he asked in his post-match interview. “When you put a team of kids out on the pitch against a team that’s possibly going to get promoted, that’s how it goes.” It was to be his last game in charge as he was relieved of his duties the following Tuesday.

There was tangible fear and gloom hanging over the club despite whispers of a possible takeover by Mister Wu of Tramore’s Grand Hotel, but things actually improved immediately. Current Blues Under-14s manager Derek Browne took over for the final two games of the season and the youngsters pulled off two remarkable wins - 3-0 at home to Athlone and 1-0 away to Shelbourne lifting us to a lofty fifth in the eight-team First Division.

That win in Tolka Park turned out to be the last ever game under the Waterford United moniker. Lee Power took over the club in November, set up PowerGrade Ltd as the new holding company and went back to the name Waterford FC. Pat Fenlon came in as Director of Football with Alan Reynolds as manager and the Blues won the First Division at their first attempt. After a decade in the doldrums, Waterford were back in the top tier just a year after being at their lowest ebb ever.

Credit to all who wouldn’t let the Blues die and to those players who kept fronting up. None of what has happened since would have been possible without them and our fortunes may be even better again come November. Always keep the faith.

Waterford United: Matthew Sheehan, Roy Butler, Dylan McGuire, David O’Leary, Ian Sinnott, David Osaserie (Tunmise Sobowale, 61), Jake Mooney, Dara Keane, Dean Walsh, Owen Wall, Cory Galvin (Adam Feeney, 77).