Waterford set for Athlone Town play-off tie after beating Treaty United

Waterford will play Athlone Town in a SSE Airtricity Men's First Division play-off semi-final tie after a 2-0 win over Treaty United at the RSC ended the Limerick side's chances of pipping the midlanders into the coveted top five.

Goals from Ryan Burke and Dean McMenamy were the difference as the Blues took the three points.

Treaty needed to win with other results going their way across the league in order to earn a play-off spot. This emboldened the Shannonsiders once the game started and they pinned Waterford inside their own half.

Barrett’s team were assertive and won a corner from a Success Edogun shot inside five minutes, and the resulting set-piece came to nothing.

The Blues' first chance came from a Treaty free that Barry Baggley headed away and the ball went to Romeo Akachukwu. He played Ronan Coughlan into space and the in-form striker was denied by a Mark Walsh tackle.

Treaty responded by winning another free – their third of the game – and Conor Barry’s ball missed everyone inside the penalty area.

Waterford won their first corner in the 15th minute through a Ben O’Riordan clearance that was caught by the wind. Walsh was on hand to deal with the set-piece by heading the ball away at the back post.

Things seemed to wind down, as if the two teams were trying to work out a way to play their traditional game in conditions that seemed to get worse with every passing second.

Treaty had the majority of possession during this spell of the game, and Waterford comfortably held their Munster rivals at arm’s length.

If anything summed this up, it was Marc Ludden sending in a cross and Dean George headed the ball out for a corner without drawing a save from Sam Sargeant.

The second half started with the Waterford goalkeeper going