POST-MATCH REACTION: SSE AIRTRICITY LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION – COBH RAMBLERS MANAGER STEPHEN HENDERSON
By Daire Walsh
After witnessing his side securing a crucial 1-0 win against UCD at Belfield last night, Cobh Ramblers manager Stephen Henderson was delighted to be back in contention for a place in the SSE Airtricity League promotion play-offs.
Following their encouraging second-half performance in the FAI Cup away to St Patrick’s Athletic last weekend, Henderson was pleased to see Ramblers taking the game to UCD in a crunch First Division encounter.
“Yeah [very happy], because we’re back in it. We just had to look at the way we played in the second-half against Pat’s, and we asked the lads ‘is there any chance of two halves of that?’ The first-half, you could see we pressed them up, we stopped them from playing,” Henderson stated.
“I think we had eight or nine corners in the first-half that we should have taken advantage of, but we didn’t. Then, in the second-half, I think we had the best chances. We got a bit tired, because that’s hard work on a huge pitch against a very good team that pass the ball. They were brilliant.”
It was Eoin McGreevy’s 71st-minute goal that was ultimately the difference between the two teams, and Henderson praised the midfielder for his contribution on the night.
“He [McGreevy] is a character. You’ll see by his celebration, he’s a great character, and he runs himself into the ground. He got a little bit tired.
“He got a little bit of a boost after he scored. It was a fantastic finish, but he has quality in him the kid. We loved him to bits, he’s as mad as a hatter. We’re delighted he got that.”
This result means that Ramblers are now just three points adrift of three-place UCD with four games remaining in their 2016 campaign. Henderson acknowledged that their inferior goal difference poses a challenge, but with some tough fixtures ahead for both teams, they will continue to adopt an ‘all or nothing’ attitude.
“If we lost tonight we were gone. Possibly if we even drew tonight we were gone. We knew that, so we kind of went out with a ‘it’s all or nothing’ attitude. We had a go off it. We know we have to get more points than UCD, and we’ve known that since the last series of games started.
“We’ve set it up to go out and win as many games as possible, because we know the goal difference. We live in hope. The last four matches of the season, and we’re still involved in a play-off push. That’s incredible out of this group of lads.”