Waterford manager Graham Coughlan put his team’s resurgence under his guidance down to the attitude of his players after their 2-0 away win against St Patrick’s Athletic in Inchicore.
Second-half goals from Jorgen Voilas and John Mahon powered Waterford to victory in Richmond Park, propelling them that much closer to safety and wounding St Pat’s title prospects just when it looked like Shamrock Rovers’ form was faltering.
The result encapsulated the turnaround that Coughlan has inspired in Waterford since taking over as manager in May.
His first game in charge had been in this fixture, his side well beaten 4-1 by Pat’s with Coughlan afterwards lamenting their inability to get the basics right. At that stage, Waterford were rooted to the bottom of the table on six points, with no wins from their first 14 league games.
Since then, they’ve won seven, drawn five and lost just two league games, with an FAI Cup quarter-final against Sligo Rovers coming up next week.
“The lads were very good. I just thought we were off a little bit in the first half,” Coughlan told RTÉ Sport’s Tony O’Donoghue after the win over Pat’s.
“We came out in the second half, we got that little bit of intensity, that little bit of aggression that we were looking for.
“We put a press, a harder press, a more aggressive press on them in the second half and it paid dividends.
“I’m probably nitpicking if I say we should have maybe been a little bit more comfortable than we actually were. But like I say, I can’t be too unhappy with the end result.
“We made a couple of little tweaks to the squad, to the shape. We knew they would have lots of the ball. We knew they were a possession-based team. We knew they would have territory so we needed a threat on the counter.
The Waterford players celebrate after their 2-0 win over St Pat’s
“The first half, again, it was probably not our best performance. The second half, we really came out with the traps.
“We work on Jorgen [Voilas] coming into the back stick but none of that would have been possible without the hold-up play of Tommy Lonergan and the work rate of Podge Almond.
“So, those two lads deserve immense credit. The blocks from the centre-halves, the defenders in the back line and obviously the midfielders getting that bite in, winning them tackles. As a whole, I have to be really pleased with them.
“I have to be really happy with them. I thought they were really good.”
After looking doomed to relegation prior to his arrival, Waterford are now nine points clear of bottom side Sligo Rovers and four points ahead of Drogheda United in the relegation play-off spot.
Coughlan passed off all the credit for the revival to his squad.
“Look, it’s nothing to do with me. It’s all down to the group in the dressing room,” he stressed.
“I ask them, I tell them what to do and they do it to the letter of the law. They trust me, they buy into us and they produce more often than not, to be quite honest with you.
“There’s no secret. I’m not standing here telling you that I’m a Jose Mourinho.
“Those lads are absolutely unbelievable to work with. They’re a brilliant, brilliant group of lads and it’s a pleasure walking in to work with them every day.
“Like I say to them every day, I never worked a day in my life. I’ve been in this job 30, 35 years and it’s an absolutely brilliant job. And to walk into a changing room with that group of lads, it’s an absolute pleasure.
“But I don’t want them to stop. I want them to keep going. I want them to keep driving, keep pushing and keep improving every day.”
The result is a killer blow to St Pat’s title prospects and Stephen Kenny’s side now just about clinging on to second spot on goal difference from Bohemians, who dispatched Sligo Rovers 3-0 on Friday evening.
Kenny felt his side were in a strong position at half-time but he acknowledged that Waterford were superior in the second period.
“We had a lot of reasonable play in the first half, a lot of decent play,” Kenny told RTÉ Sport.
“Maybe not enough cutting edge in wider areas, but certainly, we’ve been one-nil down quite a few times here at half-time and come back and won, scoring four and three a few times.
“So, being nil at half-time didn’t certainly faze us.We knew we could raise our game.
“But Waterford were the better team in the second half and that’s a poor reflection on our second-half performance. So, we have to accept that.”
Zack Elbouzedi reacts after a missed chance
Pat’s next league game is at home to the reigning champions Shamrock Rovers on 11 September, who they beat in dramatic fashion in this month’s Cup tie.
Before that, Rovers, who are licking their wounds following their European exit on Thursday, have a chance to nudge their lead back out to seven points against Derry City in the Ryan McBride Brandywell on Sunday.
Kenny insists that his team have over-performed relative to expectations in 2026.
“I think at the start of the season, nobody was really thinking that we were contenders at all and we weren’t tipped to be in the top four.
“I think we put ourselves in a great position. Second in the league coming into tonight after good wins in Tolka Park and Drogheda.
“But we failed to capitalise on it tonight. And we didn’t deserve to win overall.”