Waterford pile the pressure on Longford

Waterford's Cian Kavanagh celebrates scoring a goal with teammates. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Waterford FC 4 Longford Town 1

Waterford FC returned to winning ways in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division as they put further relegation woes on bottom side Longford Town with a rampant 4-1 win in a game played at a rain soaked RSC as the Blues moved out of the bottom two.

The hosts took the lead with a super move on 36 minutes when Shane Griffin played a magnificent ball out to the left for Jack Stafford, who put in a brilliant first-time cross that was flicked home by Cian Kavanagh that gave keeper Steacy no chance.

Longford were level just two minutes into the second half when substitute Aodh Dervin slipped the ball into the path of Paddy Kirk, who fed the ball to Dean Williams, and he beat Brian Murphy with a left-footed finish from six yards.

Marc Bircham’s side were back in front on 52 minutes when Cian Kavanagh was bundled over in the area in a challenge with Aaron O’Driscoll that saw referee David Dunne point to the spot, but after keeper Lee Steacy saved Kavanagh’s spot kick, John Martin was on hand to hammer home the close-range rebound.

Kavanagh grabbed his second goal on 71 minutes when he raced into the clear after a long clearance from John Martin, and he held his composure to slot past keeper Steacy’s to put his side in the driving seat, before Martin completed the scoring six minutes from time finishing a cross from Isaac Tshipamba.

WATERFORD FC: Murphy; Power, Evans, Nolan (Forrest ’86), Ferguson, Stafford; Griffin (Mutswunguma ’58), O’Keeffe, Martin (Dupree ’86), Patterson; Kavanagh (Tshipamba ’81).

LONGFORD TOWN: Steacy; Kirk, McNally (Chambers ’46), O’Driscoll, McDonnell; Grimes, Nugent, O’Brien (Davies ‘54, Zambra (Dervin ’46); Manley, Williams.

Referee: David Dunne (Dublin).