Waterford come from behind to beat Cockhill Celtic

Waterford beat Cochill Celtic 2-1 at the RSC. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

FAI Cup second round: Waterford FC 2 (Gbemi Arubi 21, Ryan Burke 47) Cockhill Celtic 1 (Luke Rudden 13)   

Waterford FC came from behind to book their place in the third round of the Sports Direct FAI Men’s Cup after the Premier Division side beat non-league and FAI Junior Cup champions Cockhill Celtic in front of a 1487 crowd at the RSC.

On an evening where it was confirmed that Blues’ winger Maleace Asamoah would be leaving the club to join Wigan Athletic on a permanent deal, there was a shock opening goal that arrived for the Donegal side on 13 minutes.

The visitors caught out the Blues defence to open the scoring when Corey O’Brien played the ball behind that saw Luke Rudden beat Kacper Radkowski in the race for possession, and he held his nerve to beat keeper Matt Connor with a neat right-footed finish.

Waterford drew themselves level in the contest eight minutes later. McMenamy’s delivery from the left fell at the feet of Gbemi Arubi, and he held his nerve to drill a low right-footed shot to the back of the net.

The winner arrived two minutes into the second-half. Darragh Power did superbly well down the right to put the ball on a plate for Ryan Burke at the back post, and his diving header beat keeper Harry Doherty.

Blues keeper Matt Connor produced a stunning save from a Peter Doherty header late on. That was the closest Cockhill came to causing any shock result.

Waterford FC: Connor; Power, McCourt, Radkowski (Leahy 72), Burke; O’Keeffe, McMenamy (McCormack 72), Flynn; Evans (Parsons 62), Bellis (Amond 62), Arubi.

Cockhill Celtic: H Doherty, L McLaughlin, B McLaughlin, P Doherty, McColgan (Breslin 59), J Doherty, Mullan (Graham 85), Bradley (Logue 85), Rudden, McBride, D Duffy (S Duffy 87).

Referee: Marc Lynch (Galway).