Anything that could go wrong did go wrong in Flancare Park on Saturday night last. The Waterford manager Stephen Henderson had to plan without his two centre-halves Kevin Murray and Seamus Long and as a result he had to change the back four completely from previous games.
John Hayes came in to partner John Kearney in the heart of the defence and left winger Liam Kearney was asked to fill in at full back. When Hayes got injured after half an hour he had to be replaced by James O’Sullivan with midfield star Paul McCarthy having to move back to fill the position vacated by Hayes.
The entire make-up of the team was somewhat pear shaped and to make matters worse the Blues then threw away a one goal lead despite the fact that Longford had a player sent off just before the hour mark. The goals scored by the home side were handed to them through horrendous mistakes by the defence and with Derry City winning 7-0 against Salthill Devon it meant that Waterford lost their place at the top of the league table for the first time this season. This was a night best forgotten, pure and simple.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full match report.
