Waterford FC Under-19s eased to victory in the Under-19 Southern Elite Division at the RSC on Sunday afternoon as four first half goals shocked league leaders Cobh Ramblers in a game that was dominated from start to finish by the Blues.
The Blues got off to a perfect start with a goal inside the opening nine minutes of the tie when Darragh Corcoran slipped the ball into the feet of Justin Croke on the left-side of the penalty area and he beat Cobh Ramblers keeper David Harrington with a cracking 25-yard strike.
It got better for the home side less than five minutes later when Croke got free down the right-side of the area before cracking a low shot that was saved by keeper Harrington but Matthew McKevitt was on hand to fire the rebound over the line.
Cobh were rocked with the concession of a third goal with 16 minutes on the clock when Sean Roche was brought to ground on the right-side of the area and Shane Griffin found the net with the resulting 25-yard effort that flew past a motionless Harrington.
A fourth goal arrived for the home side on 31 minutes when Shane Griffin showed his class to beat a couple of Cobh players before drilling a low right-footed shot from 25-yards to the left-hand corner of David Harrington’s net.
Owen Wall, who replaced Sean Roche at the start of the second half, forced David Harrington into a fine save two minutes into the second half when the attacker tried his luck from distance but the netminder got down well to save.
Harrington made a fantastic save to deny Matthew McKevitt on 59 minutes when he took a pass from Justin Croke but his shot was saved by the legs of the keeper before Owen Wall raced onto a Justin Croke pass minutes later only to be denied by the netminder again.
With the game petering out during the final minutes, Owen Wall cracked in a shot ten minutes from time that was saved by keeper Harrington as the Blues strolled to a facile victory against a Cobh Ramblers side that failed to test Paul Martin during the whole game.
Waterford FC: Paul Martin, Darragh O’Connor, Darragh Corcoran, Jack Lynch, Darryl Walsh (Adam Conway `71), Shane Griffin, Sean Roche (Owen Wall `46), Edward Black, Matthew McKevitt (Cian Flanagan `73), Justin Croke (Dara Keane `69), Michael Carroll (Jack Larkin ’75)
Cobh Ramblers: David Harrington, Kabus Vitkevicius, Scott McCarthy, Stephen O’Connor, John Browne, Peter Callahan, Darragh Lowth (Matthew Lambe `46), Evan Murphy, Keane Buckley, Joe Meaney (Jack Allen `71), Cameron Harlson
Referee: Andrew Mullally
