QUITIRNA HELPS CLOSE THE GAP

JUNIOR QUITIRNA turned on the style in second half injury time to help 10-man Waterford FC to a massive win to move within a point of Finn Harps after their pulsating SSE Airtricity Premier Division relegation battle played in front of a 1,718 attendance at the RSC last night.

After a tentative opening that saw Brian Murphy save superbly from Tunde Owolabi on seven minutes, it was the hosts that broke the deadlock on 19 minutes.

Jack Stafford sent Junior Quitirna clear down the left, and after his cross was cleared into the path of Patterson, he scored for the third game running with a cracking right-footed strike from the top of the penalty area.

Owolabi went close to levelling the tie on 66 minutes when he got on the end of a Jordan Muscoe cross on 66 minutes, but he fired wide — before the Blues doubled their lead.

Kyle Ferguson’s long ball saw Harps keeper Mark McGinley, who replaced the injured Ger Doherty, fail to handle, and Quitirna nipped in to slip the ball into the net.

Waterford keeper Brian

Nervy

With a nervy RSC hoping their side would hold out, it got even better when they scored two in the dying minutes.

Junior Quitirna turned provider for John Martin for a third goal, before the former completed the scoring with a magnificent goal after some outstanding play from Patterson and Anthony Wordsworth.

WATERFORD FC: Murphy, Halford, Ferguson, Nolan, Stafford, Wordsworth, Griffin (Connor ’74), O’Keeffe, Patterson, Quitirna, Martin.

FINN HARPS: Doherty (McGinley ’33), McEleney, Webster, Sadiki, Mustoe, O’Sullivan, Coyle, Rainey, Foley, Owolabi, Hawkins (Dunleavy ’46).

Referee: Graham Kelly (Cork).

Murphy was sent off afaf ter striking out at Harps defender Kosovar Sadiki as he tried to clear the danger, which resulted in a penalty on 72 minutes. And although Matt Connor guessed the right way, he couldn’t keep the spot kick from Tunde Owolabi out.