Another difficult night for Billy Dennehy and his side as Waterford FC left Mounthawk Park with all 3 points on Matchday 17 of the SSE Airtricity First Division on Monday afternoon.
Buoyed by a fantastic performance and clean sheet after a long journey to Finn Park in Donegal on Friday night, Kerry FC were once again in front of a near full Mounthawk Park on the back of another decent performance away from home. Dennehy was forced into just one change from Friday’s draw with the suspended Matt Keane replaced by Graham O’Reilly in midfield.
The first real chance of the game fell to Leo Gaxha. A superb through ball from Sean McGrath fell lovely to the number 10 who tried to dink it over the Waterford keeper but he was well out to deny Kerry an early lead.
But Waterford showed their strength and it didn’t take long for the fully professional side to show their class. Coughlan found himself on a 1v1 on our keeper Aaron O’Sullivan but missed his shot to the right and wide to the relief of the home support.
But the visitors were to go in front after 36 minutes. Idowu tapped into an empty net and an Aaron O’Sullivan miss kick landed to his feet. Waterford doubled their lead on 45 minutes, with Coughlan scoring his first of 4 on the stroke of half time. Kerry with it all to do in the second period.
Waterford started on the front foot and despite Kerry winning 3 corners in the opening 10 minutes, it was Waterford who scored in the 56th minute, Ronan Coughlan adding to his season’s tally.
Kerry had a genuine penalty shout just 3 minutes later. Gaxha was brought to the ground but the referee wasn’t interested in the Kerry protests.
Dennehy turned to the bench on 60 minutes, Kennedy Amechi coming in for Ryan Kelliher. But that man Coughlan completed his hattrick after 67 minutes, sliding the ball past O’Sullivan and putting the result well beyond doubt.
Amechi was called into action 3 minutes later, but at the wrong end of the pitch for Kerry as Coughlan’s shot was cleared off the line by the academy star. Sean O’Connell made a welcome return to senior action after 72 minutes, with Togor Silong also introduced for Cian Barrett and Graham O’Reilly
Larkin had a chance to put Waterford 5 in front but his shot from a short corner went well over. Coughlan got his 4th of the afternoon in the 87th minute with a calmly converted penalty before Baggley neatly slotted home in injury time to give Waterford FC a 6-0 win and all 3 points on the road home to the Southeast.
