Ramblers lose out in Cabinteely
CABINTEELY FC……………………………………… 1
COBH RAMBLERS……………………………………. 0
Daire Walsh
A 63rd-MINUTE goal from John McKeown proved to be the difference between the sides last night at Stradbrook, where Cobh Ramblers were narrowly defeated by Cabinteely FC in the SSE Airtricity League First Division.
This was the fourth meeting between the two sides during this season, and in addition to their dramatic 2-2 draw at the same venue four months ago, the St Colman Park outfit also recorded a brace of narrow home victories against Eddie Gormley’s charges.
Lively Cabinteely striker Sodiq Oguntola was just off-target three minutes in, but even though he forced a fine sixth minute save from Eoghan Daly, the Cobh rearguard managed to hold firm when the hosts attempted to create space inside the final third.
Daly also tipped a deflection around the posts on 19 minutes, but as the half wore on, Shane O’Connor and Jason Abbott were starting to exert their influence in the Cobh midfield. A swerving left-footed attempt by the impressive O’Connor just cleared Cathal Gillen’s crossbar, and just shy of the half-hour mark, Abbott was agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock.
His speculative chip from distance rebounded off the top of the bar, but the woodwork also came to the rescue of Daly and Cobh following a powerful long-range piledriver from Cabinteely midfielder Richard Purdy.
These opportunities did help to increase the tempo of the game, and Cobh received something of a left-off in first-half stoppage-time, when front-man Stephen Hanley failed to control a tantalising cross from the left-flank.
Cobh managed to place the Cabinteely back four under pressure in the early stages of the second period.
Abbott had a couple of close-range attempts cleared away from danger 53 minutes in, and alhough a number of Cobh players felt that his second shot had crossed the line, referee Michael Connolly signalled for play to continue.
However, Cobh were beginning to stretch their opponents’ rearguard, and after a O’Connor strike from a tight left-hand angle flew past the far post, Stephen Kenny was denied by the feet of Gillen.
Cobh were left to rue these missed chances, as Cabinteely opened the scoring with 27 minutes of time remaining. Full-back Karl Byrne went on a strong run up the right wing, and the raiding McKeown was on hand to turn home his inch-perfect cross.
Christopher McCarthy was introduced by Cobh boss Stephen Henderson as they aimed to work their way back into contention, but it was to no avail as they suffered their 12th league defeat of 2015.
CABINTEELY FC: Cathal Gillen; Karl Byrne, Victor Ekanem, Edward McDonagh, Kevin Knight; Stephen Dunne, Richard Purdy, John McKeown, Michael Brown; Sodiq Oguntola, Stephen Hanley (Conor Foley 84).
COBH RAMBLERS: Eoghan Daly; Graham McCarthy (Adam O’Sullivan 88), James Furlong, Kevin Mulcahy, Anthony O’Donnell; Stephen Christopher, Dave Curran (Christopher McCarthy 78), Shane O’Connor, Jason Abbott (Brendan Frahill 88), Ryan Goldsmith; Stephen Kenny.
Referee: Michael Connolly.