Cockhill Celtic bow out of FAI Cup but still give Waterford fright at the RSC 

Cockhill Celtic gave it their best shot as they bowed out of the Sports Direct FAI Men’s Cup with their heads held high when putting Premier Division side Waterford FC under pressure, but ultimately went down by two goals to one at the RSC. 

There looked as if there could be a shock on the cards as Celtic struck for the opening goal on 13 minutes, but Keith Long’s side never panicked in front of a 1487 attendance to came back to win their spot in the next round. 

The Inishowen side caught out the Blues defence to open the scoring when Corey O’Brien played the ball behind the defence that saw Luke Rudden beat Kacper Radkowski in the race for possession, and he held his nerve to beat keeper Matt Connor with a neat right-footed finish.

Waterford drew themselves level in the contest eight minutes later. McMenamy’s delivery from the left  fell at the feet of Gbemi Arubi, and he held his nerve to drill a low right-footed shot to the back of the net with the winner arriving two minutes into the second-half. 

Darragh Power did superbly well down the right to put the ball on a plate for Ryan Burke at the back post, and his diving header beat keeper Harry Doherty with Blues keeper Matt Connor producing a stunning save from a Peter Doherty header in the closest that they came to causing any shock result. 

 Waterford FC: Matthew Connor; Darragh Power, Robert McCourt, Kacper Radkowski (Darragh Leahy, 72), Ryan Burke; Niall O’Keeffe, Dean McMenamy (Ben McCormack, 72), Shane Flynn; Connor Evans (Connor Parsons, 62), Samuel Bellis (Padraig Amond, 62), Gbemi Arubi. 

Cockhill Celtic: Harry Doherty, Lee McLaughlin, Brendan McLaughlin, Peter Doherty, Oisin McColgan (Jason Breslin, 59), Jack Doherty, Jack Mullan (Conor Graham, 85), James Bradley (Nathan Logue, 85), Luke Rudden, Corey McBride, Damian Duffy (Stephen Duffy, 87). 

Referee: Marc Lynch (Galway).