MATCH PREVIEW: Shelbourne FC vs Waterford FC

WATERFORD FC

Graham Coughlan brings his Blues side to Drumcondra on Friday night looking to round off a magnificent miracle, with one point needed to secure our place in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division next season – albeit the blues sit three points ahead of ninth-placed Drogheda United ahead of kick-off with a seven-goal swing also needed in Drogheda’s favour.

The Blues picked up two crucial home wins against Galway United (3-2) & Drogheda United (3-1) last week to move us into eighth place going into the final round of fixtures after a season unlike no other.

Waterford sit with 40 points to their name from their 35 games played so far in 2026, having lost just two of their last 14 Premier Division games in an excellent turn of form.

SHELBOURNE FC

John Russell’s Shelbourne host the Blues in their final home league game of the season, looking to round off an inconsistent season in position fashion – having missed out on European football for 2027.

The Reds have ended their season in impressive form, winning four of their last five games (including their last 3), to see themselves sitting in fourth position in the Premier Division going into tomorrow’s encounter.

Shelbourne defeated Bohemians 1-0 late on last Friday night, with Mipo Odubeko coming up with the winner in the 85th in the final ever Men’s Premier Division game under the old Dalymount Park lights, to set us up for tomorrow’s season finale at Tolka Park.

WATERFORD FC TEAM NEWS

Graham Coughlan is hopeful that full-back Jordan Houston will be available for selection on Friday night, having picked up a knock in the warm-up prior to last Friday’s win over Drogheda at the RSC.

Sam Glenfield remains absent through injury, with no other fresh injury concerns to deal with for the Blues boss tomorrow night.

GRAHAM COUGHLAN’S THOUGHTS

“The final league game of the season has come around real quick. I suppose we’ve been in a really good place the last number of months, so I can see why time is flying. When you’re enjoying yourself, when there’s a good feeling about the place, it’s always going to be like that.

The lads are in a real good place. They’re working hard, and they know what’s at stake on Friday night, and we’re really looking forward to it.

It’s a ground where we want to go up and do ourself justice in, because we felt we were little bit hard done by the last time we went up there, coming away with a 2-1 defeat in May. We should’ve come away with something from it the game – it was a late goal – so hopefully we’ve grown and got better. It will be interesting to see how far we have come from then to now.”