Allianz Football League Division 4 – Waterford 4-7 Wicklow 1-12

Ferncombe leads Waterford charge

Waterford 4-07 Wicklow 1-12

By Mark Kennedy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Waterford kept their hopes of making a quick-return to Division 3 alive with this four-point win at Aughrim. Wicklow were struggling after just 15 minutes when they were being hit by a brilliant hat-trick from Waterford’s corner-forward Mark Ferncombe. Before being substituted, Wicklow’s corner-back Jason Bolger had a nightmare trying to police Ferncombe who applied the clinical finish to a move involving Shane Ahearne and lively Gary Hurney for his opening goal.

By the 15th minute he had completed his hat-trick and they led 3-6 to 0-5 at the break. When Shane Ahearne punched to the net the contest was over.

Scorers for Waterford: Mark Ferncombe 3-0, Shane Ahearne 1-0, Patrick Hurney 0-3, Sean Fleming 0-2, Gary Hurney (1f), Conor McGrath 0-1 each.

Scorers for Wicklow: Leighton Glynn 1-3 (1 pen, 1f), Seanie Furlong 0-5 (3fs), Austin O’Malley 0-2, James Stafford, Peadar Burke 0-1 each.

WATERFORD: K Cotter; K Connery, M O’Gorman, C Phelan; T Grey, E Walsh, W Hennessy; S O’Hare, S Ahearne; C O’Keeffe, C McGrath, P Hurney; S Fleming, G Hurney, M Ferncombe.

Subs: T. O’Gorman for O’Keeffe, J Veale for McGrath, JJ Hutchinson for Ahearne, A Brophy for Fleming, T Ó hUallacháin for P Hurney.

WICKLOW: M Travers; C Hyland, A McLoughlin, J Bolger; P Cunningham, R Finn, A Byrne; J Stafford, A Merriman; J Kelly, A O’Malley, D Hayden; D O’Sullivan, S Furlong, L Glynn.

Subs: N Gaffney for Bolger, N Mernagh for Hayden, M McLoughlin for Cunningham, P Burke for Kelly, T Hannon for O’Malley.

Referee: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary)