League of Ireland Play-off final (second leg)/ Waterford United 3 Finn Harps 3 (Finn Harps win 6-3 on aggregate):First Division runners-up Finn Harps were promoted to the Premier Division at the RSC last night when they consolidated their first-leg win with a confident, stylish performance. :
The visitors arrived on Suirside in confident and determined mood. With a three-goal lead under their belts and one foot already in the top flight, they had no intention of loosening their grasp on the coveted prize.
Harps opened the scoring on 16 minutes when Michael Funston steered the ball into the net from six yards after Conor Gethins rolled the ball into his path. The second half was less than two minutes old when Funston fired over a cross from the right and Gethins scored with a fierce volley from 15 yards.
But United pulled one back on 51 minutes when Cathal Lordan scored from a 20-yard free-kick, and the Blues levelled the leg on 67 when Kenny Browne headed home a Dave Warren free. Three minutes later Harps regained the lead when Stephen Parkhouse hit the net from close range.
United kept trying and Warren bundled the ball over the line on 90 minutes to make it 3-3 on the night, but it was too little and too late to save Waterford.
WATERFORD UNITED: Delaney, Browne, Kearney (Scully, 56 mins), Hayes (Hedderman, 50), Breen (Lordan, 22), Warren, D Mulcahy, McCarthy, Sullivan, Kiely, A Mulcahy. Subs not used: Grincell, Holden.
FINN HARPS: Gallagher, McLaughlin, Minnock, Boyle, Holmes, Shields, Funston, McGowan, Parkhouse, Gethins, Brolly (Divih, 66). Subs not used: Brown, Roddy, Ascua, Cullen.
Referee: D McKeon(Dublin).
