Waterford ease past St Michael's into second round of FAI Cup

INTO SECOND ROUND: Waterford FC eased past St Michael's into the second round of the FAI Cup. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

Sports Direct FAI Cup 1st Round 

ST MICHAEL’S 0 WATERFORD FC 5 

Waterford FC strolled into the second round of the Sports Direct FAI Cup with a comfortable 5-0 win over FAI Junior Cup beaten finalists St. Michael’s in front of a healthy crowd at a showery Cooke Park on Saturday afternoon.

After going in front inside the opening minute of the tie, the Blues never looked back adding two goals before the half-time break with further goals in a five-minute second-half spell putting the gloss on a dominant performance from Keith Long’s side.

It was one-way traffic from the outset with Roland Idowu slipping the ball out to the right for Serge Atakayi, who sent in a great ball into the six-yard box where Ronan Coughlan rose highest to beat keeper Derek Breen with a deflected header off defender Denis Cremins for a 27-second opener.

There was a wakeup call for Keith Long’s side from a set piece on 22 minutes when David Slattery struck the woodwork after a Luke Kiely corner before the Blues doubled the lead at the other end three minutes later through Sam Perry, who scored his first ever goal for the club after Kilian Cantwell’s header was saved.

Waterford put the tie to bed four minutes before the sound of the half-time whistle when Coughlan sprayed a wonderful ball out to the left for Connor Parsons before planting a shot past Breen as Long’s side went in at the break in total control.

New signing Cameron Cresswell capped his debut with a fourth goal on 67 minutes when he dinked a header after a brilliant long ball from Ryan Burke over the head of the advancing Derek Breen before Irish U-17 International Romeo Akachukwu completed the scoring with a super goal five minutes later with a super effort.

ST MICHAELS: Derek Breen, Sean Murphy, Dale O’Mahony (Cillian Coonan ’60), Denis Cremins, Cian Fadden, Joey Mulcahy, Jimmy Carr, Colin Bargary, David Slattery (Daniel O’Brien ’76), Shane Ryan (Adam McGrath ’60), Luke Kiely.

WATERFORD FC: Sam Sargeant, Niall O’Keeffe (Harry Nevin ’53), Drew Baker, Sam Perry (Romeo Akachukwu ’65), Kilian Cantwell (Giles Philips ’72), Ryan Burke, Barry Baggley, Connor Parsons, Serge Atakayi (Christie Pattisson ’65), Roland Idowu (Cameron Cresswell ’53), Ronan Coughlan

Referee: Ray Matthews (Kerry).