First Division round-up: Cobh edge past Waterford

Cobh Ramblers continued their promotion push by getting their first league win over Waterford since 2017, with Wilson Waweru scoring the only goal of this SSE Airtricity Men's First Division fixture at St Colman's Park.

After the striker rounded Paul Martin and broke the deadlock, Shane Keegan’s players resisted a siege from a Blues team that had not lost in six games.

Waterford played with the same intensity from their recent victories over Finn Harps and Treaty United, as they had Cobh pinned inside their own half from the whistle. The pressure almost paid off when Barry Baggley sent a cross to Thomas Olowa, but Charlie Lyons stopped the striker from getting a touch.

The Blues kept going with Baggley having a shot from outside the area blocked and Ronan Coughlan fumbled a low cross that Niall O’Keeffe sent in.

Despite all of their possession, Waterford could only manage one shot on target during this spell and Roland Idowu’s attempt went straight into the hands of Lee Stacey.

Cobh played with a 3-5-2 formation and the strike partnership of Jack Doherty and Waweru caused real problems for the Waterford back-line. They worked in tandem to create space for each other and this freed up Waweru, and he rattled the crossbar.

All of this work by Keegan's team was almost undone with a swift Waterford counter attack that set up Connor Parsons. The midfielder shot from outside the area and Lyons jumped in to block this.

His defensive work was the last piece of action of the first half, and the two teams went into the break drawing 0-0.

The second half opened up with Waweru running into the box from the right and getting around Martin. His shot landed on the line, and despite Tunmise Sobowale trying to claw it out, it fell in and Cobh