Former Ireland international Noel Hunt scored a hat-trick as Waterford laboured to victory over Skerries Town in the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup first round on a blustery day in North Dublin.
Goals from Hunt and Gavan Holohan gave the Blues a 2-0 lead at the break, but Brian Snowe scored early in the second-half to tee up a tense finale before Hunt added a late double.
The Leinster Senior League side grew in confidence as the second half wore on and a late onslaught looked inevitable before Hunt's quickfire double settled the tie.
The tie was played by coast at Skerries Rugby Club as the club's Park Lane home was deemed unsuitable, and the direct football under heavy winds at times resembled the oval ball code.
The Munster side predictably took control of the game from the off and striker Ismahil Akinade, partnering Hunt up front, came within the breadth of the crossbar of putting his side in front.
Bastien Hery, who was excellent at the base of Waterford's midfield, and Hunt both saw shots well-saved by Skerries netminder Shane Davis in the opening stages.
Full match details here.
There was little surprise when Hunt did finally break the deadlock midway through the first half, but the manner was certainly eye-opening as the former Reading smashed home from 25 yards.
Estonian international Sander Puri could have doubled the lead within a minute as his low shot bounced back off the post as the home side went into damage-limitation mode.
A massive thanks to all the Blues fans who made the journey to Skerries today. Also, a big thanks to all @SkerriesTownFC for their hospitality today - we wish them the best of luck for the season which starts next weekend. #STFCvWFC
— Waterford FC (@WaterfordFCie) August 11, 2018
Holohan doubled the Blues' advantage ten minutes before the break as Skerries – as would become a familiar theme – couldn't deal with a Paul Keegan corner and the Kilkenny man finished smartly.
Skerries emerged for the second half with renewed purpose and could have halved the deficit within two minutes, but Bob McKenna could only find the side netting after rounding Niall Corbet.
They got the reward for their endeavor shortly afterwards, however, as Snowe's shot squirmed its way into the corner past the despairing Corbet.
Skerries had a glorious chance to equalise not long after when Reece Weldon's cross found Shane Langan, but he could only steer his header the wrong side of the post.
Garry Comerford thought he'd made it 3-1 when his free kick bounced all the way into the net but the goal was chalked off for offside.
The defender then hit the bar directly from a corner with the Skerries defence at sixes and sevens, but substitute Courtney Duffus put the rebound a centimetre over the bar.
Waterford finally put the game to bed five minutes from time as a Keegan corner found Hunt completely untracked in the box and he planted a low header into the corner.
And the three-times-capped international scored again in nearly identical circumstances to seal the win three minutes later.
Skerries Town: Davis, Mullen, O’Carroll, Costello, O’Callaghan, Kiely, Hopkins, Dempsey, McKenna, Snowe, Lynch.
Waterford: Niall Corbet, Dylan Barnett, Garry Comerford, Renars Rode, Sander Puri; Bastien
Hery (Noe Baba 87), Dessie Hutchinson, Paul Keegan, Gavan Holohan; Noel Hunt (Dean O'Halloran 89), Ismahil Akinade (Courtney Duffus 63).
Referee: David Dunne.
