Our young Blues side fell just short of reaching the 2025/26 Munster Senior Cup Final on Tuesday night, as Rockmount AFC defeated the Blues 7-6 on penalties after the sides failed to be separated after 110 minutes of action.
Eddie Nolan made six changes to his side from our quarter-final win over Cobh Ramblers, with first-teamers Ronan Mansfield & Dean McMenamy lining out for the Blues, along with Igor Bacela, Orion Cala & Alan Zborowski who all came into the starting line-up ahead of kick-off.
The Blues got off to the perfect start inside four minutes, as Jordan Faria beat his man on the Blues left, before firing beyond Adam Mylod to give Eddie Nolan’s side an early lead.
Just 90 seconds later it was almost two. Sean Keane, up for a corner kick, got his head on the end of Mohammad Oladiti’s deep cross, as the Blues skipper could only see his headed effort fly into the hands of Mylod.
Waterford kept up the early pressure, forcing a host of corners as they looked to give themselves breathing space early on at Ben Wadding Park.
The visitors earned their first effort of the game on 14′. when Eoin Murphy forced Igor Bacela in the Blues goal into a low-save from a free-kick, as the young Blues maintained their early advantage.
And it was from a set-piece that saw the Cork side find their equaliser after 18 minutes. Ronan Mansfield was adjudged to have fouled Eoin Murphy inside the Waterford area from the follow-through of a pass, as Murphy dusted himself off to calmly find the bottom corner to level proceedings.
With the momentum in their favour, Luke Hurley tested Bacela shortly after, with the Blues shot-stopper equal to his effort on 20′, as the Munster Senior League side looked to build on their equaliser.
Faria saw a curling-effort fly inches wide of Mylod’s far post with ten minutes remaining in the half, as the Blues looked to regain the lead ahead of the interval.
With one of the last kicks of the first half, Martin Connolly saw his effort from 20-yards narrowly deflected over Bacela’s crossbar, as both sides went into the break level after an entertaining first-half.
Waterford thought they had a second with five minutes on the clock in the second-half, as Dean McMenamy’s corner kick found the head of Sean Keane who forced Mylod into a finger-tip save at his near post to maintain proceedings at 1-1.
On the hour-mark, the Blues will be amazed as to how they didn’t find a second. First Peter Byrne saw his effort cleared off the line, before Faria, McMenamy and Oladiti all saw efforts blocked deep inside the Rockmount area in a quick succession of each other.
Byrne again was causing Rockmount on 68′, seeing his low-driven effort sting the hands of Mylod in the visitors goal before the Rockmount defence cleared the resulting ball.
Just minutes after entering the pitch, Fidel Pululu had an excellent chance to regain the Blues’ lead. Orion Cala found the midfielder with a smart switch, before the substitute could only see his effort fired into the path of Mylod inside the Rockmount area.
As the game approached the final ten minutes, Eoin Murphy went inches away from doubling his tally for the evening, cutting inside right before firing just over Bacela’s crossbar. This proved to be the final chance of regular time, as both sides had to settle for an extra twenty minutes of action in extra-time.
Similarly to the start of the game, it was the Blues who raced into an instant start, as Orion Cala restored the Blues’ lead with a stunning strike. Picking the ball up on the left wing, the attacker cut in before unleashing an unstoppable effort into the Rockmout top corner to give Eddie Nolan’s side the lead.
With just seconds remaining in the first-half of extra-time, the hosts were awarded their second penalty of the evening, as again Eoin Murphy was fouled inside the Waterford penalty area before the Rockmount number 7 fired home in the 100th minute – a finish that forced the game to go all the way being decided by a penalty shootout.
Alan Zborowski stepped up first for the Blues, firing his effort back off the Rockmount crossbar, before Luke Hurley missed Rockmount’s fourth spot kick to level the shootout. Mo Oladiti, Romeo Lapoite, Jan Wozniak, Sean Keane, Bobby Keohan & Adam Coyne all scored their penalties before Noah O’Brien’s effort was cruelly saved as Rockmount scored the resulting spot-kick to secure their place in this years final.
A tough way for our 2025/26 Munster Senior Cup journey to end, with plenty of our MU17 & MU20 players getting a feel for senior competitive action at the club ahead of the start of their League of Ireland Academy season this weekend.
Waterford FC: Igor Bacela (GK); Alan Zborowski, Sean Keane (C), Ronan Mansfield (61′ Noah O’Brien) , Jesse Dempsey (71′ Adam Coyne); Mohammad Oladiti, Dean McMenamy (61′ Romeo Lapite), Peter Byrne; Jordan Faria (71′ Fidel Pululu), Jan Wozniak, Orion Cala (105′ Bobby Keohan).
Rockmount AFC: Adam Mylod (GK) (110′ Jake O’Leary); Arseni Lamonov (67′ Jon Hannafin), Martin Connolly (84′ Adam Crowley), Cian Murphy, Kenneth Hoey (98′ Denis Gavrya); James Carroll, Arminas Balevicius, Ian Mylod, Luke Hurley; Cian Leonard (65′ Brian O’Mahony), Eoin Murphy.
