Their start was so scintillating that St Pat’s fans must have wondered how much their team would win by.
But in the end, Saints were lucky to get out of Waterford with a point having had to batten down the hatches with 10-men for 72 minutes.
Matty Smith’s fifth goal of the season after eight minutes appeared to be a sign of things to come for the high-flying title challengers.
But Alfie Lewis’ sending off was a game changer and Shane Griffin’s equaliser before half-time was just reward for the hosts who pressed home their numerical advantage.
Still, while it wasn’t the night that Stephen O’Donnell envisaged after his team bossed the opening exchanges, it could still represent a solid point all things considered.
Saints have shown time and again this season that they have more than enough about them to hang tough in the title race.
And they signalled their intent early on here, cutting three balls across the face of Brian Murphy’s goal before Smith weighed in with the early opener.
A star turn for the Blues last season, the Scottish ace has been on fire of late with two goals in three games arriving here last night.
And he notched another when turning home from close range at the second attempt after John Mountney, Darragh Burns and Billy King all played roles in the build-up.
There and then you feared that Waterford were facing into a long and potentially gory night as the leaders were energised.
But that Lewis sending off 10 minutes later was like a grenade as it left Saints scrambling to pick up the pieces and galvanised Waterford.
Lewis was disposed by Griffin 25-yard from his own goal and racing back to make amends, clipped the Blues man with his hand and knocked him off balance.
Defender Sam Bone was closing on Griffin but referee John McLoughlin decided not to play advantage and sent Lewis for a long walk.
Jamie Lennon was catapulted off the bench to add ballast to the Saints midfield ranks that were weakened by the on-loan West Ham youngster’s departure.
Marc Bircham’s Blues did not hang about making that numerical advantage count. And their decision making in the final third improved considerably after a sloppy start.
Jack Stafford headed over and John Martin’s effort from a dangerous Griffin free-kick brought out the best of Vitezslav Jaros.
A game that was disappearing before their eyes was suddenly up for grabs, and the hosts didn’t have to be asked twice.
They were already building a head of steam by the time Griffin equalised 10 minutes before the break after Prince Mutswunguma teed him up.
The big striker showed tremendous strength to cut inside from a wide position and Griffin sent 200 fans wild by slotting home the squared ball for this third of the season.
Yet St Pat’s refused to roll over and continued to put it up to Waterford in the second-half - although the home side didn’t make life easy for themselves at times.
Billy King brought a good save out of Brian Murphy when he latched onto Niall O’Keeffe’s careless ball across the edge of his own box.
But Waterford pushed for the winner late on and Martin headed a Jamie Mascoll free-kick off the bar while Adam O’Reilly’s shot packed a punch for Jaros.
Try as they did, the Blues couldn’t find the winner but settled for a point in a game they looked destined to lose early on.
WATERFORD: Murphy; Power, Ferguson, Stafford (Evans 63), Mascoll; Molloy, O’Keeffe, O’Reilly, Martin; Griffin, Mutswunguma
ST PAT’S: Jaros; Mountney, Bone, Desmond, McClelland; Lewis; Burns, McCormack, Benson, King (Forrester 71); Smith.
Referee: John McLoughlin
