Griffin’s wonder strike on the whistle leaves Derry stunned
DERRY City fell to a last-gasp defeat as Waterford ace Shane Griffin struck in injury time to send the Candystripes home from the RSC empty-handed.
Derry haven’t won at the RSC since 2007, and they never looked likely to end that run as they were second best for the majority of this game.
It was all Waterford in the first 25 minutes but Derry could well have taken the lead out of the blue when Walter Figueira bamboozled Tyrkee Wilson with a superb piece of skill to break into the area. His shot across goal beat Brian Murphy but just went by the post.
At the other end, Michael O’Connor was causing the City defence all sorts of problems and he did well to evade Eoin Toal on the half-hour before firing in a wicked shot which Peter Cherrie held.
The home side were stunned just past the half-hour though when Colm Horgan won a freekick and with the hosts reacting too s l o w l y, Derry took it quickly and Stephen Mallon (right) raced into the area and caught Murphy out with a fine finish to give City the lead.
The home side took a while to respond but they hit back just before half-time when Derry failed to clear from a corner-kick. Graham Cummins set up Sam Bone on the edge of the area and he fired an unstoppable and brilliant shot past Cherrie and into the top corner to bring Waterford level.
Waterford began the second half as they had started the first and took the game to Derry, coming close when John Martin twisted and turned in the box but shot straight at Cherrie.
The home side kept pushing and they came close again when Alistair Coote dummied a freekick 18 yards out and O’Connor curled a brilliant effort towards goal only for Cherrie to get two hands to the ball to push it behind for a corner.
Waterford looked more likely in the remainder of the game and they won it deep into added time when Griffin lashed the ball into the net to send the Candystripes crashing to a deserved defeat.