Dundalk's 609-day wait for a Premier Division victory ended in style, with a scintillating 5-0 victory against Waterford, but the result was overshadowed slightly by what looked a serious looking injury to goalkeeper Conor Kearns.
The newly promoted side hadn’t won in the top flight since beating neighbours Drogheda Utd 4-2 on 12 July 2024 under current Blues boss Jon Daly, but they had little issue in putting his side to the sword as Ronan Teahan, Declan McDaid and Daryl Horgan all found the net, before substitute Eoin Kenny’s late double put the icing on the cake.
The one concern for Ciarán Kilduff will be the injury to Kearns, who departed in an ambulance after a 17-minute delay.
That aside, he couldn’t have asked more of his side, who played a Waterford side still without a win completely off the park.
The home side were on top from the off and could have led inside the opening minute when Waterford goalkeeper Stephen McMullan made a mess of dealing with Bobby Burns’ cross, with Harry Groome failing to punish the error.
While Tommy Lonergan did have an effort shortly afterwards saved by Kearns at the other end, it was primarily one-way traffic, with the hosts unlucky not to be ahead on 23 minutes when Danny Mullen got up above McMullan to head home from McDaid’s cross, only for referee Marc Lynch to harshly rule it out for an apparent foul on the goalkeeper.
The breakthrough did arrive on the half-hour mark as Horgan got to the end line on the right to hang up a cross for Teahan to head home his first goal for the Lilywhites on what was the 100th league appearance of his career.
Waterford did have a good chance to level 10 minutes later when Conan Noonan crossed for Conor Carty, but with only Kearns to beat, he couldn’t find the target.
That was to prove costly as Dundalk made it 2-0 on 42 minutes, with Horgan playing McDaid in behind the visitors’ defence on the right for the Scot to lob the hapless McMullan, who was in no man’s land.
The Louth men could have added to their lead 11 minutes into the second half when Burns picked out Mullen in the box, but his header was straight at the keeper.
Waterford did nearly pull a goal back in the 63rd minute, but Carty’s curling effort was tipped over by Kearns.
Minutes later, the on-loan Shelbourne keeper suffered what looked a serious knee injury after sliding outside his box following a nudge from Padraig Amond.
A lengthy stoppage followed, with 42-year-old Peter Cherrie replacing him, but Dundalk ran riot when play resumed, Horgan ensuring the victory on 87 minutes with a close-range finish after his initial header had been saved.
Kenny then added a fourth on the 90-minute mark when he beat Jesse Dempsey and Ronan Mansfield to squeeze a shot home at McMullan’s near post.
He tadded a fifth in the 97th minute when he added a touch to Aodh Dervin’s shot.
Dundalk FC: Kearns (Cherrie 85); T Wilson, O’Keeffe, Animasahun, Burns; Groome (Dervin 74), Buckley; McDaid (Kenny 89), Teahan, Horgan; Mullen (Arubi 89).
Waterford FC: McMullan; Cann, Barrett (Glenfield HT), Mansfield; Voilas (Coyle HT), Heeney, McMenamy (McLaughlin 61), Dempsey; Noonan; Lonergan (Amond 61), Carty.
Referee: Marc Lynch.
