FAI CUP SEMI-FINALS: Sligo Rovers 1 Waterford Utd 0:A DECADE and a half after Sligo last qualified for an FAI Cup final, Matthew Blinkhorn booked their place back in the game's end-of -season showpiece and maintained the club's remarkable late-season revival.

Their success in 1994, when they won the trophy under Paul McStay, was the last by a First Division side in the competition. This time, Paul Cook’s men wrecked the dreams of promotion hopefuls Waterford thanks to a late headed goal that prompted ecstatic celebrations around a packed Showgrounds.

It was a particularly good night for Cook who dealt well with Stephen Henderson’s efforts to frustrate the Premier Division side. Changes to the home side’s personnel and tactics at the break shifted the balance of the game decisively in favour of the locals.

And though it took time to come, Rovers looked to be course to make the breakthrough they needed through a closing half hour they entirely dominated.

“They tried to play defensively and it made it very hard for us to play our usual game,” said Benin international midfielder Romauld Boco afterwards.

“But we changed things, we looked to play more out wide and then try to score from crosses and it worked. We’ll see now who is in the final: Bray we know well but Sporting Fingal are strong and we will do our work on them.

“Whoever it is, though, this has saved our season because we can still play in Europe next year. We really only started to play this season in July and, to be honest, if you had asked anyone here if this was possible three months ago, they all would have said ‘no’.”

To be fair, it didn’t even look all that likely through the bulk of the opening period.

Even without a handful of their more experienced players, United made it clear from early on that they hadn’t come this far to easily be turfed out of the competition.

With Kenny Browne and Kevin Murray anchoring things at the back where their height gave them an edge over the home side’s strikers early on, Henderson’s men looked solid. Goalkeeper Kevin Burns looked strong and confident as he filled in well for the suspended Michael Devine.

Rovers started brightly enough but made little of the possession they enjoyed over the opening 10 minutes before promptly losing the initiative. Waterford then mopped up a succession of high balls into their box and looked to break forward, most successfully down their left, where the hosts struggled to contain them.

Séamus Long, Vinny Sullivan and Graham Cummins all managed attempts on goal with Cummins probably closest but when the break came they still had not seriously tested home goalkeeper Ciaran Kelly.

Cook grabbed the opportunity to change things, throwing Owen Morrison into the action on his first night back from injury and looking to stretch the visitors out wide. Almost immediately, the improvement was evident although it was only during the closing stages that Waterford ran out of steam and Sligo dominated.

Burns did outstandingly well as the pressure mounted, saving with a foot after being sent the wrong way as Morrison shot from close range on the turn and then producing a quite stunning reaction stop as Gavin Peers looked to head Morrison’s corner-kick home.

Blinkhorn had his first real attempt on goal moments before he scored when an angled Morrison ball from the right was just too much of a stretch for him to exert any control over the direction of his shot. When the former Derry City winger then picked him out again with a perfectly weighted curling ball as the game moved into its 76th minute, the striker seized the opportunity, rising well above his marker and powering his header past Burns who was given no chance.

Henderson looked to shake things up and turn the tide in the closing stages but his side, looking tired, simply couldn’t raise themselves sufficiently to threaten a comeback now that Rovers had found the upper hand.

The stand erupted in celebration at the final whistle and Cook, having been handed a child who seemed to be struggling to cope with it all, wandered about the pitch accepting congratulations and, one suspects, marvelling at the difference a few weeks can make in the life of a football boss.

SLIGO ROVERS: Kelly; Ventre (Ryan, 57 mins), Peers, Keane, Kendrick; Cash (Morrison, half-time), Boco, O'Grady, Doyle; Cretaro, Blinkhorn.

WATERFORD UNITED: Burns; Long, Browne, Murray, Kearney; Waters (Dunphy, 82 mins), Cummins, Grant, Warren; Grincell (Woodgate, 86 mins), Sullivan.

Referee: D Hancock (Dublin).