Late Lonergan header seals Waterford victory over Shels

Tommy Lonergan scored his 16th goal for the season for Waterford

Evan McLaughlin of Waterford, second from left, celebrates after scoring his side's first goal against Shelbourne. Pic: Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile

SSE Airtricity Premier Division: Shelbourne 2 Waterford 3 

Destroyer of title dreams Shelbourne saw the curtain come down on their 2026 season with a dramatic 3-2 defeat to an impressive Waterford.

Kerr McInroy’s thunderbolt after just nine minutes set the Reds on their way but Evan McLaughlin levelled before the break. Padraig Amond had put the visitors in front only for JJ Lunney to strike a beautiful equaliser. And just as both seemed to settle for a point, Tommy Lonergan buried a header to take all three points.

Heading into kick-off, the Blue’s could well be forgiven for looking ahead to next week's marquee fixture against Derry City. Having already completed the remarkable feat, or miracle as described in Waterford circles, of securing safety from the relegation playoff, thanks to a better goal difference, the edge could have been shaved off this encounter but this is a Graham Coughlan side so no inch was given.

But it was the in-form hosts, unbeaten in their last five, boasting four wins, who grabbed the lead early on through a McInroy stunner that flew from right to left, satisfyingly clipping the inside of the post.

The hosts dominated and looked scintillating at times but were undone when they found themselves down to 10 men as Evan Caffrey received treatment off the pitch. The visitors were quick to take advantage of the numerical superiority as McLaughlin flew down the right before cutting inside. Having tried to tee up Padraig Amond, the Northern Irish man reacted quickest to slot home following a bit of pinball in the box.

Shels player of the year Daniel Kelly and left back James Norris continued to look like the main source of creativity, and on the stroke of half time the former cut inside on his right foot and delivered an inch perfect ball to the back post only for Sean Moore to seemingly take his eye off the ball and fail to make contact.

Having been relatively quiet by their lofty standards the dynamic duo of Lonergan and Amond combined to put their side ahead just seven minutes after the restart. Following some neat play down the left side, Lonergan delivered a whipped, pacey cross to his strike partner who, with all the pace on the delivery, just needed to glance the ball past Eddie Beach - putting him level with Lonergan at the top of the scoring charts.

Looking to end the season on a high, Russell went all out attack and introduced two strikers in Sean Boyd and Mipo Odubeko hoping to rescue a point but it was midfield stalwart Lunney who struck beautifully to level with 20-minutes remaining from a cleverly worked short corner routine.

The hosts, roared on by the majority of the 4,699 inside Tolka Park pushed for the winner but it was Lonergan who pounced, as he has done all season, to not only grab three points but put himself back at the top of the tree in the race for the golden boot with his 16th of the campaign.

Shelbourne: Beach; Caffrey (Untergrabner, 39’), Casey, Ledwidge, Norris; Henry-Francis, Lunney, McInroy (Odubeko, 62’); Moore, Kelly, Martin (Boyd, 62’).

Waterford: McMullan; Cann, Long, Mahon, Couto; Voilas (Ashton, 85’), Mawene (Amedu, 90+2’), McLaughlin (Heeney, 78’), Noonan; Lonergan, Amond (McMenamy, 78’).

Referee: Aaron O’Dowd.