Keith Long: We came here with confidence, we came here with a plan

Waterford boss Keith Long praised his team's lightning quick counter-attacking style against Shamrock Rovers after the Munster side left the home of the champions with all three points in a Bank Holiday Monday shock at Tallaght Stadium.

The visitors took an early lead thanks to a third-minute own goal from Rovers keeper Leon Poehls only for Johnny Kenny to equalise five minutes later. Most observers assumed normal order would be resumed and Stephen Bradley’s would take control from there.

But Waterford went back in front through Dean McMenamy after 17 minutes and eventually sealed their win with a Connor Parsons strike in the 54th minute. Afterwards Long, speaking to RTÉ Sport, basked in the glow of a job well done.

"I don’t know what it was like for the neutral but it certainly seemed like an enjoyable game, a fast tempo game, lots of action around the penalty area - that’s what supporters want to come and see," the Dubliner said.

"We got ahead early from a set play, then we conceded from a set play. We’ve got no excuses, we need to defend the back post better at that moment. Then we go ahead with a Dean McMenamy goal and we’re 2-1 ahead with barely 20 minutes played. So there’s a long way to go and literally anything can happen.

"Rovers dominated more of the ball but I thought we carried a real counter-attacking threat with the pace we have in our team so we always had questions for Rovers when we needed them.

"We defended when we needed to, we got a bit of luck - they hit the crossbar, they hit the post. Coming to Tallaght, to come away with any sort of result, you have to ride your luck a bit.

"We executed in the moments, showed real quality and executed those moments on the counter-attack with the aggression we have in the