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Wayside Celtic 2-1 Waterford United

FAI Cup Second Round, Second Replay
At the Golden Ball, Kilternan, Co. Dublin
Tuesday, February 20th, 1996
Attendance: 900 approx

two reports and interviews
with both coaches & Frankie Byrne

     Wayside Celtic                         Waterford United

 1:- Robbie O'Dowd                         1:- Scott Garlick

 2:- Matt Grimes (capt)                    2:- Kevin Kelly (capt)

 3:- Seanan O'Douchan                      3:- Brian Barry

 4:- Wilie Simpson                         4:- Tony Hall

 5:- Paraic Mooney                         5:- Paul Bealin (wdn 45)

 6:- Steve Martin                          6:- Micheal Downey (wdn 52)

 7:- Derek Jackson                         7:- Alan Reynolds

 8:- Colm Talbot                           8:- Alan Barry

 9:- Frankie Byrne                         9:- James Carthy (inj 70)

10:- Gerry Hayden (wdn 87)                10:- Joe Lawless

11:- Mark Byrne                           11:- Colin Fanning



12:- Paul Masterson (for 10)              12:- Richie Hale (for 9)

13:- Paddy Geraghty (not used)            13:- Paul Scully (for 6)

14:- Philip Cruise (not used)             14:- Declan Power (for 5)



Harp Lager Man of the Match: Gerry Hayden (Wayside Celtic)

Referee: Brendan Shortt (Kildare)

Linesmen: J.P.Kelly (Kildare), J.Breen (Dublin)

Bookings: WAYSIDE - Mooney 5, Martin 58

          WATERFORD - Fanning 6, Power 46

THE THIRD AND FINAL meeting of Wayside Celtic and Waterford United was always going to produce a winner. If ninety minutes and two periods of extra-time were not going to prove enough, then penalties would be required. The way the two previous ties had gone, that seemed a distinct possibility going into this afternoon's match.

Hosts Wayside of the Leinster Senior League made two changes from the eleven that had earned two excellent draws against the Suirsiders, Frankie Byrne and Mark Byrne came in for Paddy Geraghty (injured) and Paul Masterson. Waterford, meanwhile, made wholesale chances. Out went John Sayers, Stevie Hall, Gary Coad and Pascal Keane, while in came Dublin gaelic football star Paul Bealin, Kevin Kelly, veteran Alan Barry and the well-travelled Joe Lawless. Both sides, then, deciding that if anything was to win them a quarter-final berth, then that something would be a new broom.

The match was barely two minutes old when it sensationally burst into life, and it was a Dub who started the ball rolling. Paul Bealin, hero of Hill 16, placed Alan Reynolds with an accurate ball from the back, he in turn located Micheal Downey whose cross from the right found James Carthy in a perfect position to slip the ball beyond Robbie O'Dowd.

However, in the sixth minute Wayside won a free-kick 25 yards from goal following a foul by Colin Fanning on Derek Jackson, for which Fanning was booked. Willie Simpson stepped up to launch a superb effort which curled around both wall and goalkeeper direct to the top-corner for an instant equaliser.

This amazing drama took another twist just a minute later when Colin Talbot found Frankie Byrne on the edge of the area. Byrne skimmed a low drive further than big American Scott Garlick could reach; it found a spot just inside the far post to incredibly give Wayside Celtic a 2-1 lead with seven minutes gone. Byrne's celebration was quite something, right out of the Ian Wright School of Celebrating. Interestingly, Mr.Byrne is known to his friends as "Poser".....

Wayside refused to rest on their laurels, and following a long sideline effort by the most recent goalscorer which Garlick saved, Byrne almost made it three with a carbon copy of the strike which had put him on the scoresheet in the first place. This time, though, it went inches beyond the far post. Just seconds after this, Colm Talbot scorched a 20 yard drive just over Garlick's crossbar; this coming at a time when flakes of snow began billowing down. The snow gradualy got heavier as the half wore on, but eased during the half-time interval, which saw Wayside leading 2-1.

During the break, Declan Power was brought on as sub, replacing Paul Bealin. Just 30 seconds into his appearance, he picked up a booking. Now that's unlucky. It was soon after this that Waterford came so close to levelling it up; James Carthy cut inside and launched a speculative effort which Robbie O'Dowd superbly diverted over. From the corner, last season's Blues captain Alan Barry, making his first appearance of the season, had a thumping header cleared off the line.

The hour mark had just been passed when Frankie Byrne fired a point-blank effort just wide, and Wayside now seemed to have adopted a shoot-on-sight policy. Certainly, if Colm Talbot had gone on a bit farther with the home side's next chance, instead of shooting early, he might have been better rewarded.

With twenty minutes remaining, Waterford striker James Carthy had to come off having picked up a suspected broken jaw. He was replaced by Richie Hale.

Alert Arizonan Scott Garlick was having a fine game, and gave further evidence of this on 77 when he tipped over a ferocious goalbound screamer. Man of the Match last time out Paraic Mooney was also on top-mettle, proving this with an excellent tackle to deny goal-seeking Kevin Kelly.

The final twist in this almost Hitchcock-like thriller arrived with two minutes remaining when Joe Lawless headed home from three yards in a goalmouth scramble, but he was flagged for offside by the linesman, and Waterford's equaliser went by the wayside, as did United's FAI Cup hopes. Yet, Wayside had to defend strong to earn this victory as Waterford laid seige on the hosts' goal. But hold on they did, to book themselves a lucrative quarter-final place with currently THE team in Ireland, League of Ireland leaders St. Patrick's Athletic.

Wayside's dream run is beginning to turn into a never-ending story...

POST-MATCH INTERVIEW

Waterford United manager Michael Bennett was disappointed after the match about the offside decison two minutes from time which cost United the equaliser, but he was still gracious in defeat. He did however, question the League's scheduling of a rearranged home League tie against Cobh Ramblers on Sunday, just two days after facing St. James' Gate in Dublin on Friday night next, which will be their third trip to the capital in eight days.

WD: Wayside Celtic 2, Waterford United 1 - just how do you react to a score like that?
MB: Well, I thought they deserved it, i can have no qualms at all about the result. Over the tie, and taking into account the first half, I thought they deserved it. When they had to defend, they defended well.

WD: With two minutes remaining, Joe Lawless had a goal disallowed which would have levelled it up and probably put the game into extra-time.
MB: I couldn't understand it, how the guy pulls the ball back from the end of the line, how he could be offside. In saying that, it's disappointing, but I thought they deserved it. We can have no qualms about it.

WD: And where do Waterford United go from here?
MB: We just have to keep going. There's no magic wand, you have to keep working on it, trying to improve the whole time.

WD: Waterford have two league games this weekend; do you think it's going to be hard for you to motivate the lads for these two big matches on Friday and Sunday?
MB: It's going to be very difficult to, first of all, try to get people off work for Friday, but we have two hard games again so close together. I think it's a bit ridiculous to insist that we play them. Why the Cobh game can't be put back to Tuesday night I don't know, I don't understand. I said it over a week ago that I'd like that game put back to Tuesday, but the Waterford board keep telling me that the League won't change it. Why they expect us to play so many games so close together - they could easily put it back 48 hours - is beyond me.

Wayside manager Peter Lennon meanwhile, was in understandably happier mood.

WD: Peter Lennon, congratulations, you,ve just set up a dream derby between yourselves and St. Patrick's Athletic.
PL: It's unbelievable, it's great for the club, it's great for the players...it's great for myself, I can't deny that! It's been fantastic. I think over the three games we deserved it. To go a goal behind and come back and win two-one, it's the stuff that dreams are made of!

WD: It was an unbelievable start because we had something like three goals in the first seven minutes.
PL: I was talking to somebody today, I can't remember exactly who it was - somebody over the phone - and he said to me "What do you think?", I said that there would probably be an explosion of goals! We got that right at the start of the match. I was happy then that there were no more. I was just asking people were the lads offside, and they said that there were two guys offside for the Waterford goal right at the end. If you're offside, you're offside.

WD: You had to work extremely hard defending your lead for the remaining 83 minutes...
PL: We said at half-time they had to come at us. They're a League of Ireland side, they had to come at us. Now, the plan wasn't to sit back, but they pushed us back. If we were 2-1 down, I would expect us to push them back.

WD: Were you pleased with the overall team performance? You must have been, surely!
PL: I was, I thought every player was super on the day as they had been for all the games. I must say again as I said on one of the programmes, their centre-half Tony Hall was exceptional. He's a magnificent player.

WD: The dream derby has now been set up. Since the draw last Friday, you must have been really anticipating that this game was going to take place and now it is a reality.
PL: You see, the great thing about being a non-league side, a Leinster Senior League side, is that you're not expected to win. So, it's the anticipation and everybody hoping that you're going to do something. If we don't win in the next game, it doesn't matter, the pressure's all on Pat's. We're happy to have it that way.

WD: You'll be hoping to have the game here perhaps... PL: Well, we'd love to have it here. Hopefully we will, but politics may come into it and we may not be allowed have it here, so we'll wait and see...

WD: Well, the dream continues. Peter Lennon, thanks a million.

Soccer: Waterford cast out by the wayside

WAYSIDE CELTIC: 2, WATERFORD UTD: 1

FOR National League teams, the annual round of Harp Lager FAI Cup clashes against non-League qualifiers represents something of a nightmare. Expected to win, losing becomes something of an an embarrassment.

That embarrassment becomes acute when the tie lasts 300 minutes and the non-League team still wins out. Yesterday, Waterford were extremely red-faced as Wayside Celtic took their well-deserved place in the quarter-finals.

This was, in fact, probably Wayside Celtic's poorest performance of the three-game saga, but they still looked the better side for most of the proceedings. Tighter in defence, brighter in attack and better able to create space in midfield, the hosts made their visitors look second best up until the last few minutes. By that time, they had earned the piece of luck that prevented the tie being pushed into extra-time once again.

Waterford clearly came looking to put the Dubliners under more pressure than they had managed in either of the first two games, but despite pushing their full backs forward, they never seemed to gain control of an area dominated by the running, passing and tackling of Gerry Hayden.

The Wayside number 10 did much to give the locals their first-half dominance. He repeatedly pushed players into good wide positions with Colm Talbot and, early on at least, Frankie Byrne doing some fine running to create problems for the Waterford defence.

At the heart of that defence, Tony Hall coped particularly well with everything that came his way. Paul Bealin started slowly, but, after the first 10 minutes, gradually got on top of the task given him by manager Michael Bennett.

Crucially, however, all three of the game's goals came during those opening minutes. Waterford struck first, with James Carthy feeding Micheal Downey out on the right before moving into the area, taking the return ball well and slipping it low past Robbie O'Dowd.

With just three minutes played, it seemed as if Wayside were going to be made to pay for the chances they had squandered in the opening two games. However, a perfectly-struck free from Willy Simpson levelled affairs four minutes later. Play had barely restarted when Talbot found Frankie Byrne in space on the left and he placed his shot inches inside the far post. Wayside had the upper hand.

For a while, it looked like they might repeat Fanad United's humiliation of first division opposition. Certainly, the pace of Talbot was a never-ending source of trouble for the Waterford defence. His striking partner faded out of proceedings entirely, however, and when Bennett reverted to a flat back four, by replacing Bealin with Declan Power at the break, things started to look a little bit brighter for the visitors.

Within four minutes of the restart, O'Dowd was call on to make a terrific stop from Carthy. That aside, even Bennett admitted that ``we lacked any sort of creativity and I just couldn't see where our goal was going to come from''.

With Wayside's central defenders Willy Simpson and Pádraig Mooney in fine form, Waterford's chances were limited, while their attempts to build down the left were repeatedly frustrated by the solid covering of Matt Grimes.

In the end, Wayside almost allowed themselves to be drawn into extra-time. A Joe Lawless goal was rightly disallowed, for offside, but the move should really have been legitimately finished by Richie Hale, who had a free header at Alan Reynolds' cross. As it is, though, they may well be headed for the same fate as Fanad when they visit a St Patrick's side intent on - and capable of - restoring the League's supremacy.

WAYSIDE CELTIC: O'Dowd; Grimes, Simpson, Mooney, O Duochon; Martin, Hayden, Jackson, M Byrne; Talbot, F Byrne. Sub: Masterson for Hayden (87 mins).
WATERFORD UNITED: Garlich; A Barry, Hall, Bealin; Kelly, B Barry, Reynolds, Downey, Fanning; Lawless, Carthy. Subs: Hale for Carthy (71 mins), Scully for Downey (53 mins), Power for Bealin (half-time). Referee: B Shorte (Kildare). Copyright: The Irish Times

Waterford United v Waysdie Celtic
The First Time We Met I Knew We'd Always Be Close
Second Time's A Thrill....
Results of the Season

This report originally featured on Dale Dermott's 1996 FAI Cup site. His new National League site can be found at www.dermott.com/irishsoccer.