O’Connor thrilled to get off to winning start on road
SOCCER
Daire Walsh
Following his side’s confidence boosting victory over Shelbourne at Tolka Park last Friday evening, Cobh Ramblers midfielder Shane O’Connor expressed his delight with the way that the Leesiders kick-started their SSE Airtricity League First Division campaign.
Because they have struggled away from home in recent seasons, O’Connor believes it was important to get three points on the board against the north Dublin outfit.
“Yeah, we always knew it would be tough coming here, especially the first game of the season. We did alright up here last year, but they had the better of it,” O’Connor explained.
“It was nice to come up and get three points, especially away from home, because we struggled away from home over the last couple of years. So, it was nice to get three points on the board.”
On the night, Ramblers had a total of five debutants in their starting line-up – with three more off-season recruits taking their place on the visiting bench.
O’Connor acknowledged that the squad has changed drastically since last year, but he has been impressed by the way the new signings have settled into life at St Colman’s Park.
“Yeah, there was quite a big overhaul in the squad there, and the two Galvins [Evan and Cory] came in, Markus [Gustavsson] came in. Cian Kingston in the middle of the park, who has done very well for us, has come in as well.
“They’ve integrated really well. You can see there, we look like a team, and we’ve only just been put together.
“Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.”
The benefit for Cobh in 2016 is that manager Stephen Henderson has been able to work with the squad throughout pre-season.
O’Connor feels this has helped them to make a better start to the current term, and the former Ipswich Town player hopes that they can maintain this momentum at home to Drogheda United this Saturday night.
“See that’s where last year we struggled a lot. We lost our first four games, with a -16 aggregate. It was always an uphill battle from there, but to kick-off the season with three points away here [is a positive start].
“We’ve Drogheda next week. Let’s see where we go after the first four games, and hopefully we can be in and around it. I think we’ll always pick up points at home. It’s a tough place to go, Colman’s Park, especially when we’re playing well,” O’Connor added.