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eircom National League Premier Division

Date	11/04/2003
Score (Blues First)	0 - 4
Venue	RSC, Waterford
Kick Off	7.30pm
Attendance	3,528
Weather	Mild
Referee	A Kelly
Goal Scorers	None
Cards	Yellow: Breen, Fitzgerald, Mulcahy
Pitch	Bumpy

After the short break the Blues are finally back in the Premier League and welcome Shelbourne last year's league runners up to the RSC in their first game. The Barrack Street band played before the game to bring back memories of Kilcohan Park in the good old days. A large crowd of over 3,000 turned up to witness the local hero's take on the big boys from Dublin. The Blues only signed a handful of players none with premier experience and lost Keeper Wayne Russell in the weeks leading up to the big kick off. Gavin Morris would start in goal and new signing David Mulcahy and Alan Reilly would make their debuts.

The match got under way with all the hype expected from the crowd that spread all the way around RSC summer soccer has arrived and on a beautiful spring night the Blues premier campaign had began. The nerves were obvious from the opening few minutes as the Blues players seemed to be chasing shadows around the highly cut pitch. A miss timed tackle by new signing Mulcahy gave Shels a penalty and they made no mistake with the spot kick which Morris got a hand too. After this their was never going to be any other result other than a Shelbourne victory but it just goes to show you that this season every mistake will be punished. A terrible back pass from a very shaky Leahy gave Jason Byrne a chance to open his Shelbourne account which he took with ease. A badly defended free kick saw the visitor's grab a third just before the break. At this stage though, no way were Shelbourne 3 goals better than the Blues. The half time interval was a welcome break.

A lot of straight talking had to be done before the team came out for the second half. But Jimmy must have been dreading getting a hiding on our opening fixture. The last time the Blues were in the Premier Division, on our opening game we lost 8-0 to Bohemains in Dalymount Park. But our young team never stopped in the second 45 minutes and were unlucky to concede a fourth goal midway through the half. The introduction of Gary O'Neill during the second period was a major high light of this game as he looked quality when he had the ball at his feet and worked hard off the ball as well. Willie Byrne also performed well as did our 2 front men Murphy and Sullivan.

Many good points can be taken out of Fridays defeat, the large crowd, the performance's of some new players and some of last year's, the club has a shirt sponsor and finally this was a game that we were never going to win anyway so nothing is lost. With so many positives to take from the opening match the Waterford public has to be patience and give Jimmy and his players time to settle into the higher standard premier League.