Hegarty happy as brace sees off UCD
SOCCER
Daire Walsh
COBH’S Jake Hegarty was happy to play his part last Friday night as Cobh Ramblers enjoyed a deserved 2-1 victory against UCD in an SSE Airtricity League First Division clash at Belfield.
Despite being seven places below to their opponents in advance of the game (UCD were second, Cobh ninth), Hegarty struck twice at the start of the second half to put Ramblers on the road to earning all three points.
Following a low-key opening period, the tie suddenly sprung to life, with the former Midleton attacker at the heart of it for the visitors.
“It was tight in the middle and practically both were the same runs,” said Hegarty.
“Great passes and I’m lucky the ball went into the net to be honest.
“We said at half-time – we will get our chances. They were probably on top of us in the first half, and we just had to be patient.
“We actually did well in the first 10 minutes [of the second half]. We kept the ball, got it moving, created two chances and we scored – probably should have scored a bit more.”
Having secured just one win from their opening nine games, the prospect of facing Cork City and UCD in their next two fixtures had seemed a daunting one for Cobh.
However, Stuart Ashton’s men have come through both tests with flying colours.
“We all feel like we turned a corner against Cork City two weeks ago,” said Hegarty.
“We just need to keep the momentum going, keep picking up results. We did say: ‘We’re not going to lose tonight’. We’d have been happy with a draw, but we’re delighted with the win.
“They’re a top team and they have savage players. I thought we defended well and they didn’t create too much.
“They went long and we won most headers. In a few games we weren’t winning headers, and we were getting caught.
“We just ground it out. We didn’t grind it out in the first nine matches and we’re picking up the points now.”
While it was minuscule in comparison to the 1,200 that witnessed Leinster playing the Dragons at the nearby RDS in the Rainbow Cup on the same evening, there was a small crowd in the south Dublin venue for Friday’s game.
Hegarty was delighted to see them back and he is looking forward to a similar reception when Ramblers host Treaty United at St Colman’s Park next Saturday.
“It’s great,” he said. “I can’t wait until the crowds are back in Cobh and get people to come to the matches.
“It’s good to score a goal, but you’d love to be celebrating in front of a crowd.”