Coughlan's extra time penalty sends Waterford up and Cork City down

The striker's cool penalty in extra time was enough to see the Blues promoted at the expense of his former club.

GOING UP: Ronan Coughlan of Waterford and team-mates celebrate after he scored his penalty. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

WATERFORD…2 (Cian Coleman 55, Ronan Coughlan pen 112 CORK CITY…1 (Connor Parsons 69) After extra time.

At the 10th attempt in their history, Waterford emerged from a playoff to earn Premier status while dumping their Munster rivals Cork City into the First Division.

Ronan Coughlan’s extra-time penalty – his 37th goal of the season – completed a comeback from Cian Coleman’s first goal of the season that was cancelled out by a sumptuous Conor Parsons equaliser.

Losing three players to injury by the interval – Conor Drinan, Ukrainian Andriy Kravchuk and top scorer Ruairi Keating – proved too much for City as they couldn’t hold onto the lead and ran out of ideas as time ticked away.

This meeting of the mighty Munster pair also brought together clubs bought by two businessmen in the past 14 months.

Andy Pilley’s objective when he added Waterford to the stable perched up by Fleetwood Town was reaching the Premier Division whereas for Dermot Usher it was a case of keeping them there at the first attempt.

Since swelling the budget in the south-east, legacy charges from before Pilley’s takeover caught up with him and he’s now serving a stretch in prison for fraud. His team’s triumph, however, will feel like City are imprisoned next season in what’s renowned as the graveyard of Irish football. This wasn’t in the script.

Aspirational talk of mounting a tilt for European qualification soon lost substance when City were left scrambling for recruits, The policy of one-year contracts was a hindrance in that regard, turning the July window into a desperate search for reinforcements.

Some of those summer signings have worked, others haven’t. Three of them started but the luckless run of Ukrainian Kravchuk continued when he could be clutching his hamstring from early on. A booking on 25 minutes made any borderline call on his continuity redundant and he was promptly hooked for Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh.

It was symbolic for these two Munster rivals to meet on the day the legend Miah Dennehy. It was 50 years on for the Leesider becoming the first player to strike a hat-trick in an FAI Cup final – as the Cork side of the era, Hibs, beat Waterford.

There were two strikers on show blessed with similar poaching instincts in the Dennehy vein. Coughlan shattered Waterford’s all-time record for goals in a season by striking 36, albeit in the lower division, while City’s Keating was in the mix for the Premier’s golden boot heading into the final day.

That his 13 goals in the league and another brace in the FAI Cup were accumulated in a season he was sidelined for two months following the tragic death of his father is testament to his quality and fortitude.

Keating had found the net in the 3-0 Cup win over the Blues in August but the stroll had scant relevance to this contest. While the elder strikers have grabbed the attention during the season, it was the next generation arousing interest by visiting scouts in this decider.

Romeo Akachukwu’s hat-trick in the playoff semi-final win over Athlone was the latest evidence of the teen’s precociousness and the bids have started. Southampton lead the chase but Chelsea and Manchester City remain in the frame for the attacker who turns 18 next July.

He was instrumental in a dominant first-half display from the Deise that delivered everything bar a goal.

After Roland Idowu set the tone by testing Coughlan Tiernan Brooks after only three minutes, Coughlan went closer by twisting Coleman inside out to get a clear sight of goal. Uncharacteristically, he sliced over.

Akachukwu and Parsons were also off-target but City, against the run of play, also might have nicked the breakthrough. Twice in quick succession around the half hour mark, Cian Bargery at the back post was fed crosses from the left only for his touch to desert him.

Coughlan was equally wasteful with a sitter at the start of the second half, leaving defender Coleman to show the way at the other end.

From Barry Coffey’s swirling free-kick, goalkeeper Sam Sargeanty was caught in limo, allowing the City skipper ghost in the back post and squeeze his header home.

Akachukwu was denied by Brooks as the Blues hunted for an equaliser and it came from the sweet boot of Parsons. He had still had work to do when seizing upon Coleman’s cleared header from Darragh Power’s cross but executed a curler over the reach of Brooks into the top corner.

Power glanced wide in stoppage time but Tunde Owolabi also missed two decent chances in extra-time but Coughlan was the match-winner, sending Brooks the wrong way from a spot-kick he earned from colliding with Coleman.

WATERFORD: S Sargeant; D Power, G Phillips, D Osede. R Burke; B Baggley (N O’Keeffe 113), R McDonald (K Cantwell 110); R Idowu (C Creswell 69), R Akachukwu (D McMenamy 70), C Parsons (S Griffin 97); R Coughlan.

CORK CITY: T Brooks; J Honohan, C Coleman, J Häkkinen, C Drinan (J O’Donovan 20 – J Kabia 1105); A Bolger, A Kravchuk (J O’Brien-Whitmarsh 25); C Bargary ((T Owolabi 90); B Coffey (G Walker 90), B Worman (73); R Keating (C Murphy 46).

Referee: Damien McGraith