Waterford arrived back in the first division with a bang tonight, taking the long journey to Athlone and beating the hosts 5-2.

Goals from Cian Kavanagh, Phoenix Patterson a brace from Junior Quirina and Louis Britton sealed the win for the blues.

Stephen Kenny and Glen McAuley grabbed consolation goals for the hosts.

Waterford did not take long to get going in this one. After huffing a puffing in the opening minutes, they got a corner in the 18^th minute. Cian Kavanagh got on the end of it to break the deadlock and the blues didn’t look back from there.

Just two minutes later, their lead doubled. Phoenix Patterson got a rebound after a Schlingermann save and made no mistake, making it 2-0.

It was pretty clear there would be no result aside from a Waterford win in the 37^th minute when Junior Quirtina slotted a free from outside the box with his left foot. A fine finish to round off a blistering first half from the visitors.

Just under ten minutes into the second half, Waterford got back underway. Quintara this time through a brilliant solo effort, after picking up the ball way out and beating a number of defenders before slotting away.

Waterford toyed with Athlone for a very long time, essentially keeping in second gear. It would take a couple of consolations in the last ten to fifteen minutes for Athlone to come away with anything.

With eleven to go, Stephen Kenny slotted one in from just outside the box with a first time effort. An impressive finish from the new man.

Two minutes later Waterford got a fifth. Louis Britton on an open goal headed home to cap off a nice cameo off the bench.

Glen McAuley would recreate the scenes of last season’s cup encounter when he won a penalty and converted it. The score would stay the same the rest of the way.

Waterford look the real deal: Ian Morris will be hoping he can get his new side back up and they will with more performances like that. They’ll display their talents next week in front of a home crowd vs Bray.

For Martin Russell and Athlone on the other hand, there is a lot of work to do. They’re a young team, but performances like this won’t fly. They take the trip down the Shannon to Treaty next.