Waterford FC captain Giles Phillips was the hero as his header in extra time was enough to secure a place in the Promotion/Relegation Play-Off Final next week.
Keith Long made just a sole change to his side, with last week’s hat-trick hero Romeo Akachukwu coming into the starting-eleven.
The Blues saw the majority of the ball in the opening minutes, with Ronan Coughlan coming closest to opening the scoring in the sixth minute – seeing his effort blocked inside the Cobh penalty area after a clever pull-back from Barry Baggley.
Minutes later, Roland Idowu fired narrowly wide of Steacy’s goal from 20-yards after Akachukwu got beyond the Cobh midfield.
With twelve minutes on the clock, a clever turn from Coughlan down the right channel saw him get beyond Browne, before his low-cross was just intercepted at the far post by O’Leary before Connor Parsons could get a touch on it.
Barry Baggley played an inch-perfect delivery from the right on 15 minutes, which found Akachukwu at the back post – but the attacker could only steer his header over the Cobh crossbar.
Cobh’s first chance fell after 24 minutes, when Brendan Fahill headed wide over Sam Sargeant’s net from Mikie Rowe’s in-swinging set-piece from the left-wing.
With two minutes left in the half, Connor Parsons found space towards the Cobh end-line, before finding Coughlan on the six-yard box. Coughlan’s initial effort was blocked, before his lay-off to Akachukwu was cleared by the Cobh defence.
With only 67 seconds gone in the second-half, it was none other than Ronan Coughlan who broke the deadlock in front of the huge travelling support. Barry Baggley broke up the play in his own half, before brilliantly finding Coughlan in behind the Cobh defence and he made no mistake as he found the bottom corner to give the Blues the all-important lead.
Cobh looked to get back into the game, with James O’Leary forcing Sargeant into a great finger-tip save after 50 minutes.
Derik Osede headed into the arms of Lee Steacy after 53 minutes from Barry Baggley’s set-piece delivery after smart movement from Giles Phillips to make space for his defensive partner.
Akachukwu did well on 62 minutes to get beyond his marker, before finding Connor Parsons on the right-side, but his cross was just too deep for Coughlan lurking at the back-post.
Moments later Darragh Power weaved his wave through the Cobh midfield himself, before forcing Steacy into a low-save.
Coughlan came inches away from doubling the Blues’ lead on 71 minutes, seeing his first-time effort fire wide after Akachukwu’s blocked shot fell into his path. Coughlan again came close to doubling the Blues lead – this time seeing his rifled effort saved by Steacy after smart play from Parsons & substitute Griffin.
As the game reached closer towards the 90th-minute mark, Shane Keegan’s side found the equaliser with three minutes of regular time remaining when substitute Matthew McKevitt acrobatic strike found the net.
Neither side could find that pivotal goal in regular time, as extra-time was needed to decide this year’s First Division Play-Off Final.
Cobh twice threatened early on in the first period of extra-time, with Wilson Waweru firing wide with the goal at his mercy, before Jack Doherty fired wide on the far side seconds later.
Barry Baggley had an effort himself from 35-yards, firing into the hands of Steacy from a set-piece three minutes into the half.
With seven minutes on the clock, Dean McMenamy looked set to put the Blues back in-front from Darragh Powers cross, only to see his effort magnificently saved by Steacy from 8-yards.
Sam Sargeant kept the Blues in the game with a stunning save of his own moments later, saving Alec Byrne’s effort from close-range.
And within 30-seconds the Blues fire home the winning goal. Shane Griffin’s in-swinging corner found Blues captain Giles Phillips at the back post and he steered his header into the top-corner of the Cobh net.
And despite the Cobh throwing everything they could at the Blues, Keith Long’s side defended immensely to deservedly secure their place in this years Promotion/Relegation Play-Off Final against Cork City next Friday night in Tallaght Stadium.
Waterford FC: Sargeant; Power, Phillips ©, Osede, Burke; McDonald (90’ McMenamy), Baggley, Idowu (73’ Griffin), Akachukwu (82’ O’Keeffe), Parsons (98’ Cresswell); Coughlan.
Cobh Ramblers FC: Steacy; O’Leary (70’ O’Brien), Eguaibor (77’ McKevitt), Frahill, Lyons, Browne; Abbott © (81’ Desmond), Phillips (81’ Holland); Rowe (81’ Byrne), Waweru, Doherty.
Attendance: 2,626.
