Waterford FC 5 Cobh Ramblers 0 

A fantastic performance from Blues striker Ronan Coughlan helped his Waterford team to a commanding victory over Shane Keegan’s Cobh Ramblers in front of a crowd 2,071 at the RSC.

The hosts piled the pressure on Cobh from the off, finding an early lead as Killian Cantwell delivered a brilliant ball into the box before Coughlan rose high to head into the top corner in the 8th minute.

The Blues kept at the struggling Cobh Ramblers, who couldn’t get any sort of rhythm in the game. Connor Parsons found an opening in the Rams defence, and played the ball low across the box, but Cobh scrambled it clear.

Minutes later, in a near identical sequence of play, Ryan Burke played it through to McMenamy, who played the ball across Lee Steacy’s goal, but his pass couldn’t find a man in blue.

In the 18th minute, Burke played a clever ball into McMenamy, who fired low at Steacy’s near post, but the Ramblers goalkeeper got down excellently to deny him.

Waterford’s early onslaught continued, as Roland Idowu crossed one in for the Blues that met the head of Giles Phillips, but Steacy did brilliantly to dive across and prevent a certain goal. From the ensuing corner, Barry Baggley’s delivery in met the head of Coughlan once again, but this time the forward’s effort bounced off the crossbar.

Waterford doubled their lead in the 37th minute, as Idowu played it through to Shane Griffin, who cleverly flicked it over Jason Abbott, and poked the ball past Steacy. Waterford came close again on the eve of the half, as Shane Griffin’s effort was well defended by a Ramblers team under severe pressure.

Cobh nearly got one back at the start of the second half, as Luke Desmond played a perfectly weighted pass over the top to Wilson Waweru who controlled itm but couldn’t get a shot off quick enough. and it was well-blocked by Waterford.

The hosts found a third through Barry Baggley in the 51st minute, as he turned past James O’Leary and struck it coolly into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.

Waterford made it four near the hour mark, as Coughlan pounced on a loose ball from Abbott, playing it to Idowu, who finished well, putting the match result beyond doubt.

The visitors almost got one back in the 81st minute, as Waweru played a one-two with O’Sullivan Connell, but he couldn’t keep his effort from going over the bar.

Wassim Aouachria netted a fifth for the hosts in the dying embers, as he darted towards goal, firing low into the corner past Steacy, giving the Waterford substitute a goal on his birthday.

Moments of poor concentration made a difficult task impossible for the Rams, who can’t be too disappointed with a scoreline that certainly reflected the performances of both teams.

WATERFORD: P Martin; R Burke, N O’Keefe (H Warren 91), S Griffin (D Larkin, HT), B Baggley, C Parsons (T Oluwa 85), R Coughlan (W Aouachria 70), R Idowu, G Phillips (T Sobowale 85), K Cantwell, D McMenamy.

COBH RAMBLERS: L Steacy; M McCarthy, B Frahill, C Lyons, W Waweru (D Bosnjak 87), C Drinan (C Stringer 87), D O’Sullivan Connell, D Holland (L Desmond 17, inj), T O’Brien (J Hegarty 66), J O’Leary (C Osorio 66), J Abbott.

Referee: Marc Lynch (Galway).