Shamrock Rovers were handed three points on a plate by a battling Waterford FC side as Stephen Bradley's side capitalised on two huge errors that gave the league leaders all three points from this SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division clash at the RSC.
After a brilliant Padraig Amond header had put the hosts in front inside ten minutes, the home side were the architects of their own downfall as they were undone by goals from Rory Gaffney, Michael Noonan, and Graham Burke – the latter two goals were defensive errors
It was a header of quality that gave the hosts the lead on ten minutes.
Ryan Burke found space for himself out on the left before putting in a wonderful ball that saw Amond get in front of his marker to flick an unstoppable header to the roof of the net from 12 yards.
Stephen McMullan denied the Hoops a certain equalising goal on 23 minutes when Josh Honohan played a super ball over the top that sent Aaron Greene clear straight on goal, but the netminder saved at the feet of the attacker as he tried to take the ball around him.
Rovers were celebrating a leveller just two minutes later. Adam Matthews played a long throw into the right-hand corner that saw Greene send in a first-time cross for Gaffney, and he applied a neat right-footed finish past the helpless McMullan.
It took some more heroic goalkeeping from McMullan to deny the visitors the lead goal on 36 minutes when Jack Byrne swung over a right-wing cross that picked out the run of Honohan, and after his header was superbly kept out, Gaffney struck the outside of the post with the rebound.
Rovers were then gifted the lead on 76 minutes.
Blues keeper McMullan, who was having a top display for the hosts up to this point, explicably played a clearance straight to Noonan, who was only on the field seven minutes, and with his first touch, he couldn’t believe his luck as he guided the ball to an empty net from outside the penalty area.
A third goal followed for the tabletoppers deep into second-half injury-time when Honohan, on the week that he was called up to the Republic of Ireland senior squad, dispossessed Navajo Bakboord before releasing Graham Burke, who beat the offside trap, to finish past McMullan.
Waterford FC: McMullan; Horton, Radkowski (Bakbooard 60), Leahy, Burke; Olayinka (Pouwels 90), McMenamy (McDonald 60), White, Glenfield; Lonergan, Amond.
Shamrock Rovers: McGinty; Honohan, Grace, Lopes, Matthews; Nugent (J O’Sullivan 69), O’Neill (Healy 69), Byrne, C O’Sullivan; Greene (Barrett 87), Gaffney (Noonan 69).
Referee: Aaron O’Dowd (Dublin).
Attendance: 3321
