Great win for Waterford, as Cork City win local derby

Storm Kathleen definitely caused many problems last weekend with all of Saturday’s fixtures postponed and then on Sunday, pitches were unplayable following all of the rain that fell. There is a full fixture list for the coming weekend, let us hope the weather will be a little kinder.

In the FAI Junior Cup semi-final played at Bunclody, the Villa lost out to Gorey Rangers in a penalty shootout, and this Sunday the Villa will be playing the final of the Munster Junior Cup at Carrig Park, Fermoy against St. Michael’s from the TS&DL.

In the Airtricity League, Waterford FC had a great win at Dalymount Park against Bohemians. In the derby game at Turner’s Cross, Cork City defeated near neighbours Cobh Ramblers to remain unbeaten at the top of the table after nine games.

WATERFORD AND DISTRICT LEAGUE

The weather once again proved to be the big winner last weekend. The league committee took the decision, correctly, to call off all games on Saturday because of Storm Kathleen and games were called off on Sunday when pitches became unplayable. Lismore, Cappoquin/Railway, Ballyduff Rovers and Brideview all had their games postponed.

This coming Saturday, Brideview will travel to play top of the table Stradbally in Division 2A, with a 2pm start.

In Division 2B, Lismore in joint second spot, will have league leaders Portlaw as visitors to the Castle Farm Ground, with a 2pm kick-off.

In Division 3A, Ballyduff Rovers will have home advantage at the Ballyduff community pitch for the visit of Ballinroad with a 2pm kick-off.

DEATH

We were sorry to hear on Thursday last of the death of Kelly Healy, Rylane, Cork. Kelly is wife of former Irish international and former Cork City player and manager, Colin Healy. Her son, Arran is a current player with Cork City. At present, Colin Healy is assistant coach to Eileen Gleeson’s Irish senior women’s team who are competing in Euro 2025.

We send sincere sympathy to Colin, son Arran, daughter Hollie and the extended Healy family. Ar dheir Dé ar a h-anam.

SYMPATHY

We were so sorry and shocked to hear on Sunday last of the unexpected death of Eily Mason, Barrack Street Cappoquin, wife of the recently deceased Jer Mason. To her sons, Mark and Trevor and daughter, Jillian, the extended Mason family and the extended Landers family, we send very sincere sympathy at this sad time.

Ar dheis Dé ar a h-anam.

OSCAR TRAYNOR CUP

The second semi-final in the Oscar Traynor Cup was played last Sunday with the Mayo League defeating the Sligo/Leitrim team 2-1. Mayo will now play the Waterford and District League in the final at the end of the month.

A name that caught our eye for Mayo was Raff Cretaro, who came on as a substitute late in the game. Raff is a Sligo native and played in the League of Ireland for many years for both Sligo Rvs and Finn Harps.

FAI JUNIOR CUP Gorey Rgs 0 Villa 0 Gorey win 4-1 on pens

Sunday last saw the two semi-finals of the FAI Junior Cup take place. At Bunclody, Gorey Rgs of the Wexford League defeated the Villa of the Waterford and District League in a penalty shootout 4-1. At the end of the 90mins there was no score and it was then on to extra time. With five minutes of the 20mins remaining, substitute Alex Phelan scored for the Villa, but straight from the restart Gorey put pressure on the Villa defence and with only a minute remaining, the Wexford team scored when a Villa defender scored an o.g.

It was then on to penalties, which Gorey won from and they will now play Cockhill Celtic from the Donegal League who defeated Pike Rovers from the Limerick League 1-0 at Jackman Park, Limerick. The only goal of the game was scored midway through the opening half.

We have to admit we got our predictions wrong as we felt the Villa would come out on top in Wexford and felt Pike would have to be at their best if they were to defeat the Donegal outfit. So, for the first time in a number of seasons there will be no Munster team in the FAI Junior Cup final.

MUNSTER JUNIOR CUP FINAL

This coming Sunday, the final of the Munster Junior Cup will take place at Carrig Park, Fermoy between the Villa from the Waterford and District League and St. Michael’s from the TS&DL. Both teams met a number of weeks back in the FAI Junior Cup, with the Waterford team coming out on top 2-0.

St Michael’s are known nationally, having won so many cups at national and provincial level and have been supplying players to the Irish amateur international set-up for well over 25 years. The Villa won the FAI Junior Cup two years ago, but lost out to Gorey Rgs last Sunday in the semi-final of this season’s FAI Junior Cup. Villa are the dominant team in the Waterford Premier League and are favourites to retain their league title. Kick-off on Sunday is 2pm.

INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL France 1 Ireland 0

Friday night saw the Irish women’s team commence their 2025 Euro campaign when they played France away in Metz, in what many have called the group of death, with England and Sweden making up the group, and all three ranked in the top six in the world. But this did not deter head coach Eileen Gleeson from feeling confident as the Irish girls took to the Saint-Symphorien Stadium in Metz, eastern France.

When the teams were announced, Gleeson surprised many handing caps to new players Emily Murphy, Aoife Mannion and Anna Patten. The star-studded French team went on the attack from the very start and referee Maria Caputi was very lenient to Ireland’s Heather Payne, who tugged the jersey of Sandie Toletti and escaped a yellow card. The Irish defence failed to deal with the resultant free kick by Dali and Lakrar played the ball towards the far post for Katoto to find the net from almost on the goal line.

France should have doubled their lead as the half wore on as Murphy on the right hand side was in constant trouble with Toletti and Diani, and watching we felt she was out of her depth, but some resilient defending by the Irish, and a wonderful save from goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan allied to bad finishing by the French, saw the score at half-time 1-0 to the home team.

Eileen Gleeson made a change at half-time replacing Murphy with Megan Campbell and this did have a more calming effect on the Irish defence. But still, it was the French in the driving seat, with only sporadic attacks, which were few, by the Irish. Again in this half, Bosnan made a number of top class saves and Campbell’s throw-ins did cause the French problems, but overall looking at the game it was all one-way traffic.

At the end, there was only a goal separating the teams and the Irish can prepare for the visit of England on Tuesday.

Eileen Gleeson said after the game “one result won’t define the whole campaign” and she is correct, but her team should have been beaten by more than the one goal, such was the French’s supremacy. England will definitely be a tougher proposition on Tuesday night.

By the time our notes appear in print Ireland will have played the current Euro holders and defeated World Cup finalists, England, who drew 1-1 with Sweden on Friday night at Wembley Stadium.

England are the holders and while they dropped two points at home on Friday, they will be aiming for all three against the Irish. Let us hope for at least a share of the points which will be a wonderful result for Eileen Gleeson’s team.

Ireland’s next outing after the English game will be a double fixture against Sweden. Ireland will play Sweden at the Aviva on Friday, May 31st and will play the return match four days later on Tuesday, June 4th.

On 12th July, Ireland will travel to Wembley to play England and conclude their group fixtures with a home fixture against France. As we have written previously, at present the venue is not known. Hopefully we will see the game played in Cork.

The top two teams in the group will qualify automatically and the bottom two will play off to see who will go forward for a play-off against another group team.

AIRTRICITY LEAGUE

Last week was a busy one for all the twenty clubs in the Airtricity League with two fixtures each in the space of five days, Easter Monday and last Friday.

EASTER MONDAY GAMES Waterford 1 Shamrock Rovers 3

We commence our round up with the games on Easter Monday and we report on the big game from the RSC between Waterford and Shamrock Rovers. The Blues had lost four days earlier at the RSC to Sligo Rvs 1-0. With an attendance of 3,600 inside the ground, including 600 Rovers fans, the atmosphere was electric as always when the team in the Hoops are in town, and more especially as the Tallaght based outfit have been the champions for the past three years.

The game was only four minutes old when Graham Burke forced Sam Sargeant into a save and the Blues’ keeper had to be alert to save from Richie Towell. Waterford did attack, but the visiting defence was strong enough to deal with any of the Waterford attempts. The Hoops did suffer a setback when Lee Grace had to leave the game through injury, replaced by Robero Lopes. At halftime there was no score and all the Blues fans were happy that if they could get the opening goal, Rovers may be put under a lot of pressure.

However, seven minutes after the restart, it was Rovers who broke the deadlock. A free to the Hoops by Poom split the Waterford defence leaving Darragh Burns race into the area past Sargeant and hit the ball into an empty net. Having viewed this goal a number of times on video, this was another defensive mistake by the Blues, similar to the goal conceded against Sligo.

Ten minutes later Waterford were level when Maleace Asamoah was fouled on the edge of the area and Robbie McCourt’s free kick was deflected past Leon Pohls into the corner of the net. We hoped this would get Waterford into a more attacking mode, but again it was Rovers who scored when ten minutes later Conan Noonan’s pinpoint cross was brilliantly met by a diving Lopes header past Sargeant. This was the winning goal and while Waterford played well overall, the better team on the day were the deserving winners.

Wexford 1 Cork City 1

A confident Cork City, with five wins and two draws, travelled to Ferrycarrig Park to play Wexford. Our City colleagues told us the league leaders scored after only 3mins play when Cian Barry crossed from the wing for Jaden Umeh to score and become the youngest player ever to score for a Cork City men’s team, at 16 years and 14 days old. The league leaders were in total control in the opening half, but could not put the ball in the net and it was evident they missed Jack Doherty out with a leg injury. Wexford keeper Mason was called into action before the break with a good save at the expense of a corner from a Greg Bolger free kick.

Wexford made a number of changes at half-time with Thomas Oluwa causing problems for the City defence straight away. Bradley Wade in the City goal was kept busy throughout this half and with time running out Oluwa scored for the home team and a share of the points. This result extends Cork City’s run of five victories and three draws as they prepared for the local derby v Cobh on Friday night at Turner’s Cross.

Cobh Ramblers 1 Longford Town 1

We travelled to St. Colman’s Park for the early kick off of Cobh Ramblers v Longford Town and at the final whistle the points were shared 1-1. Monday saw the first game played on the new astro pitch and the stadium has been revamped since last season. On a beautiful sunny afternoon and an attendance of 1,480, this was an enjoyable game of football, added of course by the return of former Ramblers’ manager, Stephen Henderson as manager of Longford.

Cobh as they did the on a number of occasions this season, created plenty of chances and only needed a striker to put the ball in the net. No need to mention the name Jack Doherty as our Cobh colleagues did so many times in the opening half. Longford took the lead when a corner kick from the dressing room side was not dealt with properly and the ball came off a home defender into the net, giving keeper Darragh Burke no chance and this was the score at half-time.

Cobh upped their game in the second half and continued to attack and create chances. Manager Gary Hunt made some changes and substitute David Bosnjak scored with a brilliant strike from the edge of the area with 20mins remaining. There was no further scores, although the Ramblers forced two corners in injury time that were cleared by the visiting defence and at the final whistle the points were shared and Cobh looked forward to their trip to Turner’s Cross on Friday for the local derby with Cork City.

FRIDAY’S GAMES

We now start our round-up of Friday’s fixtures with Waterford’s trip to Dalymount Park to play a Bohemians team that had defeated Galway on the previous Monday at Eamonn Deacy Park. Adding spice to this Dublin fixture was the new Bohs manager, Alan Reynolds, who had only departed the RSC two weeks previous.

The Blues went into the game following two home defeats over the Easter weekend to Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers, defeats that saw them drop to third last in the league table. For Waterford manager Keith Long, Dalymount was a return on Friday night to a venue where he had spent eight seasons in charge of the Gypsies.

Bohemians 0 Waterford 1

Before an attendance of 4,300, the opening half saw two cautious and maybe nervous teams, as both knew the importance of the game. There was not many chances created in the early part of the game, until the 30th minute when a passing movement from the halfway line saw former Bohs player, Robbie McCourt’s pass, find Padraig Amond and he found the net, giving Bohs’ keeper Kacper Chorzka no chance to the delight of the large travelling Blues supporters.

But this seemed to fire Bohemians into action and Waterford keeper Sam Sergeant made two vital saves from Dayle Rooney to keep the Blues in the lead. The first save was a one-on-one and then he saved full length again from Rooney. Half-time arrived with Waterford leading 0-1.

The second half saw Reynolds make a number of changes pushing Waterford back, but in fairness to the Blues, they were comfortable and compact at the back and Bohs lacked the someone that could get through the defence and even with six minutes injury time being played and Bohs with a corner in the 96th minute, the Blues held firm. When Kevin O’Sullivan blew for full time, Waterford had the three points.

Speaking to a few Blues fans after the game, they said this was a much better performance than the two games over Easter and they deserved the victory.

This Friday, Waterford will welcome Galway to the RSC. When the teams met at Eamonn Deacy Park at the start of March, Galway came out on top 2-1continuing their run from the previous season, not losing to Waterford in four league games. Galway’s game last Saturday away to Sligo Rvs was postponed due to adverse weather conditions. The previous week they lost at home to Bohemians, giving new manager Alan Reynolds his first victory as manager of the Gypsies. There should be a large attendance once again at the RSC for John Caulfield and his Galway team and the Blues will be expected to play as well as they did last Friday at Dalymount Park.

We wrote at the start of the season we would wait until they had completed their nine league games in the first quarter of the league, to pass judgement. With eleven points from nine games, three wins, two draws and four defeats, and unfortunately not being able to see them play regularly, due to other league commitments, we believe this is as much as was expected, although looking at the two defeats over Easter, one has to be critical of defensive lapses that cost them goals leading to defeats. Friday’s victory saw an improvement in defence, especially late in the game as Bohs’ applied pressure. Let us hope this will continue starting with Galway on Friday.

Cork City 3 Cobh Ramblers 0

In the 1st Division, the big game was undoubtedly the Munster local derby at Turner’s Cross that saw league leaders Cork City defeat near neighbours Cobh Ramblers. There was an attendance of 3,600 on a very wet and miserable night and the pitch cut up quickly with the goalmouth at the Shed end very muddy.

Our City colleagues kept us up to date and told us the game was only five minutes old when former Ramblers favourite, Jack Doherty found the net at the Shed end for City. This was the perfect start for the home team and they doubled the score when Bargary passed to Barry Coffey and he found the net, 2-0.

In fact, Doherty had two more chances to increase the score before half-time with one of his efforts coming back off the crossbar.

Cobh came more into the game in the second half with former Waterford player, Jack Larkin seeing an effort forcing Cork ‘keeper Brad Wade into a brilliant save. Larkin’s brother, Dean saved a certain City score when he blocked Coffey’s effort on goal. But with time almost up, Evan McLoughlin scored, from substitute Jaden Umeh’s pass at the St. Anne’s End, and at the final whistle a comfortable 3-0 victory. This gave the league leaders their sixth win and three draws. With Finn Harps drawing at home to UCD, City now has a three point lead at the top of the table.

This Friday, Cork City will travel to the Bowl to play UCD, while Cobh Ramblers will play their first game under their new lights at St. Colman’s Park when Wexford will be the visitors.

We cannot conclude our Airtricity League round-up without mentioning the Premier game at Weavers Park, Drogheda last Friday night when referee Rob Hennessy had to suspend the Drogheda v Shelbourne Premier game for fifteen minutes and send the players to the dressing rooms after linesman Dermot Broughton was struck on the neck by a smoke bomb which necessitated the assistant receiving medical treatment. The smoke bomb was thrown from the Shelbourne section of the crowd. The ninety minutes had been played and injury time commenced when the incident occurred and after fifteen minutes, the game resumed with two extra minutes added on by the referee.

There is no doubt the FAI will have to investigate this incident and in fact need to investigate the number of games each weekend that see pyrotechnics activated at various venues in the league throughout the country.

This is a topic we are very well versed in as part of our function at fixtures we are designated to attend by the FAI, that any pyrotechnics, flares or smoke bombs must be reported back to the Airtricity League Disciplinary Committee. We have seen this committee take action a number of weeks back when Bohemians player, Cian Byrne got hit by a flare thrown by one of the Bohs’ fans, resulting in Bohemians supporters being barred from a game in Drogheda as punishment.

Unfortunately, a culture has developed with a section of fans, small numbers we must stress, in some clubs that can cause problems at games with flares and smoke bombs.

We have to stress this does not happen at all fixtures and we have been at various grounds since the new season began last February that not a flare or any type of pyrotechnic was activated. On Easter Monday we had over 3,600 at the Waterford v Shamrock Rvs league game at the RSC and while the atmosphere was electric, there was no trouble at any stage from any of the supporters and not a flare or any type of pyrotechnic to be seen.

After the game on Friday night in Drogheda, Shelbourne manager Damien Duff said he was embarrassed and ashamed at the conduct of one of his own club’s fans and the club will accept the punishment of the disciplinary committee.

For those of us who have been going to League of Ireland games for decades, it is only in the past ten to fifteen years have we seen flares at venues in Ireland, but watching games from the various venues throughout Europe, and in venues throughout the world, the trend has spread to Ireland. It is a dangerous trend and flares being ignited in the middle of supporters can lead to spectators receiving injuries that can become life changing. It is now up to the FAI and the clubs to stamp this out and fans will have to be educated by their clubs of the serious consequences when flares and smoke bombs are ignited. This is a subject we will return to again in the next week or two.

MEMORIES

We had planned to bring back memories to our readers from the archives of the 1993/94 season. Unfortunately, space this week has beaten us, but when we looked at the make-up of the committee elected at the AGM which was held on Monday, July 26th, 1993 at the Red House, there were only two changes with Liam Fitzgerald from the referees committee, taking over as fixture secretary, but no one allowed their name go forward for league PRO.

However, at a delegate meeting on 6th September, Dec Whelan, from the Grange club, was proposed and seconded as the new PRO.

Next week we will have more from the 1993/94 archives.