Title challengers Saint Patrick's Athletic got their name into the hat for tomorrow night's second round draw of the Harp Lager FAI Cup last night thanks to a late Paul Osam goal. But both sides will have to do battle again at Richmond Park on Monday night to decide who goes forward to the last 16 of the competition after this scrappy but exciting first round tussle.
United, who upset Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda United here a year ago, appeared to have another cup shock in the bag with a half hour left to play after Padraig Dully and Mark Reid had given them a two-goal advantage. Late on, though, the Dubliners dug deep, and, with a little help from the home side's goalkeeper, Paul Campbell, they narrowed the gap before Osam headed the equaliser with three minutes remaining.
"It's disappointing," said Waterford manager Tommy Lynch, "but we proved we could do something against them at home. Now it's up to us to show we can do it up in Richmond Park to. We certainly won't be intimidated by the idea of going there."
After a slow start, the game sprang to life after 15 minutes with first Pat Sinnott and then Martin Reid putting Trevor Wood under pressure in the visitors' goal.
Suddenly Pat Dolan's defence, usually so cool under pressure, looked rattled, and after Wood had got away with handling outside the area while attempting to prevent Padraig Dully connecting with Sean Riordan's long clearance out of defence, they finally crumbled.
Moments later, Declan Devine's long ball also hitched a ride on the strong breeze, but this time Mark Reid flicked on for Sinnott, whose shot came back off the foot of the post but nicely into the path of Dully who drove home to give his side the lead.
It got worse for the visitors just before the hour was up. Their defence was caught napping once more as Gannon's cross from the right picked out Reid on the edge of the six-yard box and, having stepped away from Hawkins, the 24-year-old neatly turned the ball low past Wood and into the bottom left corner.
At that point, it seemed that the Saints, beaten at home a week ago by Sligo, were on the way out of the cup, for there wasn't a single area of the pitch in which they could claim to have been having the better of it.
Still, the lead was cut within five minutes when United goalkeeper Michael Devine terribly misjudged a long Paul Campbell free which floated over him and into an empty net.
Neither Hawkins nor Packie Lynch were at their best and Reid was a constant source of irritation for the pair as the game wore on, even if he now lacked the numerical support he had had early on.
When John Frost's low cross from the left eluded everyone in the centre and reached Dully just beyond the far post, it really should have been 3-1, but the shot was deflected wide and the Saints were quickly chasing an equaliser at the other end.
Lynch was the one to clear the danger for his side on several occasions, but after Alan Barry had headed behind in the 87th minute, Eddie Gormley's long corner reached Osam at the far post from where he left Devine with no chance.
