Long takes lessons from cup loss as Waterford eye giant leap

The play-off decider with Cork City will take place at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night

Waterford's Connor Parsons and Derik Osede celebrate victory over Cobh Ramblers

Keith Long believes his Waterford side must make a quantum leap to earn Premier Division status in Friday night’s promotion/relegation play-off final against Cork City.

The Blues were 2-1 winners over Cobh Ramblers after an extra-time battle at Turner’s Cross with a 101st-minute winner from captain Giles Phillips.

Ronan Coughlan’s 36th goal of the season looked to have sent them on their way but an overhead kick by super-sub Matthew McKevitt levelled the game with just two minutes remaining.

The play-off decider will take place at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night but Long says the difference in standards coming up against a top-tier side is vast.

“We'll give it a go against Cork. We'll be massive underdogs,” said the Blues boss.

“They've beaten us 3-0 here in the Cup. They're the Premier Division side so a lot of the pressure will be on them.

“We've got to perform and we've got to be better than we were the last time we played them here.

“They play against high-level opposition. I can't underline it enough the difference between Premier Division and First Division in the standards.

“There is a quantum difference between where Cork play and the level of the opposition that they play every week and what we face with respect to the First Division.

“We know the challenge that we face and we know we have to really perform to our maximum if you've got any chance to get to where we want to be.” 

City were comfortable winners when they met in the FAI Cup, scoring two goals in the first 17 minutes including a strike from Ruairí Keating inside 60 seconds.

Long has taken plenty of lessons from that night.

“We lost 3-0 so we have to defend better. We need to back ourselves a little bit more. We did a lot on the ball against Cork the last day but they were happy for us to have the ball.

“We started the game slowly going 2-0 down so that's important that we get a good foothold and start fast in the game.

“We conceded some poor goals, soft goals, and you can't concede those goals. We need a little bit more game management. Obviously, you need individuals to play a little bit better.

“In terms of personnel, who will Cork play? Will it be a similar line-up? Eight or nine of those players that played in the Cup game you'd imagine would start against us next week.

“They'll have eyes on us so they'll have learned a lot about us again tonight. We'll give it a go.

“Of course, we have to worry about Cork. Of course, they play at a Premier Division level and a high level every week. Our aspirations are to get to that and that's where we want to be.

“They'll fight, it's going to be one of those games, it's a Munster derby, and we'll be giving it everything that we've got to try and progress.” 

Long praised the Waterford support among the 2,626 crowd, which also included former Cobh star Roy Keane.

The Blues fans will face another road trip to Dublin on Friday.

“Effectively this was a home game for Cobh. We're playing in their home county.

“Yes, they've had to travel to Turner's Cross, 15 minutes down the road. Our supporters have had to travel an hour and a half plus to get here and they backed the team.

“They were brilliant in the RSC, they were fantastic again tonight, and we're going to need them on Friday.” 

Ramblers boss Shane Keegan was booked at half-time for his protests over a decision not to award his side a penalty for handball.

But his focus was on his own side’s quantum leap forward from bottom spot last year to play-off contenders.

“We have the mini-screen on the sideline and I saw that it was a penalty. I would like to think that’s not even an opinion, it’s fact,” he said.

“But we’ve had too good of a season and too good of a night to get pulled into a squabble over a refereeing decision. It would just demean our achievements.”