![\"Waterford](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024eaa6-614.jpg\"\/)
\nWaterford soak up the acclaim of the travelling supporters<\/p>\n
Second-half goals from Jorgen Voilas and John Mahon maintained Waterford\u2019s remarkable resurgence as they schooled St Patrick\u2019s Athletic in this SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division clash at Richmond Park.<\/p>\n
Having been nine points adrift at the foot of the table at the end of May, this win stretched Graham Coughlan\u2019s Blues\u2019 unbeaten run to 10 games and was no more than they deserved as they created the better chances despite St Pat\u2019s enjoying more possession.<\/p>\n
Coughlan said pre-match that while St Pat\u2019s were chasing silverware, his side were chasing survival.<\/p>\n
And though they remain eighth in the table, this victory gives Blues a four-point cushion over Drogheda United as they sit a point behind Derry City who play Sunday.<\/p>\n
It marked another missed opportunity for St Pat\u2019s whose eight-match unbeaten run came to an inglorious end. They stay second in the table, four points behind Shamrock Rovers, though the champions have two games in hand.<\/p>\n
Though Blues started positively, ex-Saint Tommy Lonergan failed to really get hold of his seventh minute shot which was straight at Joseph Anang.<\/p>\n
St Pat\u2019s soon began to dominate possession as they probed for openings.<\/p>\n
A sublime ball over the top from Chris Forrester brought promise as Anthony Olusanya\u2019s good first touch looked to have him in on goal before Mahon got across to intercept.<\/p>\n
Stephen McMullan was finally worked between the Blues posts on 19 minutes, getting down to push away a low drive from Luke Turner as Saints\u2019 pressure mounted.<\/p>\n
With their front two of skipper Padraig Amond and Lonergan, Waterford always posed a threat on the counter, the latter won Blues\u2019 first corner of the game when his shot deflected out off Saints\u2019 captain Joe Redmond.<\/p>\n
\nWaterford soak up the acclaim of the travelling supporters<\/p>\n
Blues midfielder Evan McLaughlin then wasted the chance of the first half, volleying at Anang from close-range following a swift counter.<\/p>\n
Starting the second half on the front foot, Waterford should have taken the lead inside a minute.<\/p>\n
Jordan Houston\u2019s ball ran right through the Saints defence to find Lonergan who spun to blast off the crossbar from 10 yards when it looked easier for him to have added to his 14 goals this season.<\/p>\n
But Lonergan would soon make amends as Blues punished sloppy defending to take the lead on 55 minutes.<\/p>\n
Zach Elbouzedi failed to clear the ball under pressure from Lonergan who tenaciously regained possession to cross for Norwegian winger Voil\u00e5s to shoot home his fourth goal of the season.<\/p>\n
While Tuner had a shot deflected for another St Pat\u2019s corner, Waterford remained a big threat on the counter with Lonergan twice coming close, while Voil\u00e5s worked Anang, before they doubled their lead on 76 minutes.<\/p>\n
Anang came but never got to Bernardo Couto\u2019s corner allowing big centre-back Mahon to head to the net.<\/p>\n
St Pat\u2019s pressed for the remainder of the game but couldn\u2019t find a way through, substitute Ryan Edmondson contriving to shoot wide from yards out late on just about summing up their night.<\/p>\n
Waterford might even have added to their winning margin in stoppage time but for a fine save by Anang from Voilas.<\/p>\n
St Patrick\u2019s Athletic: Joseph Anang; Joe Redmond, Sean Hoare, Luke Turner (Jay McClelland 78); Jamie Lennon; Zach Elbouzedi, Chris Forrester (Sam Rooney 78), Darragh Nugent (Ryan Sheridan 59), Anto Breslin (James Brown 59); Aidan Keena (Ryan Edmondson 66), Anthony Olusanya.<\/p>\n
Waterford: Stephen McMullan; Jordan Houston (Hayden Cann 78), John Mahon, Kevin Long, Bernardo Couto; Jorgen Voilas, Noah Mawene (Dean McMenamy 88), Evan McLaughlin (Luke Heeny 88), Conan Noonan; Padraig Amond, Tommy Lonergan.<\/p>\n
Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Monaghan).<\/p>\n
Attendance: 3,965.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Second-half goals from Jorgen Voilas and John Mahon maintained Waterford\u2019s remarkable resurgence as they schooled St Patrick\u2019s Athletic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-607734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}