Whelan fires Cobh to victory
SOCCER
UCD………………………………0
COBH RAMBLERS……………..1
Daire Walsh
MATTHEW WHELAN was the hero for Cobh Ramblers at Belfield last night, as his 78th-minute goal helped Stephen Henderson’s charges to secure all three points in a tense SSE Airtricity League First Division clash against UCD.
With clear-cut opportunities at a premium, Whelan eventually stepped forward to fire Ramblers into the lead, and they held out to leapfrog their opponents into second place in the table – just two points behind Waterford United.
The Cobh starting line-up was unchanged from the one that defeated Cabinteely seven days earlier, as captain Chris ‘Kaka’ McCarthy was still suspended following his red-card in a 2-1 defeat to Athlone Town at the beginning of the month.
They were aiming for a repeat of their performance at the home to UCD in April (when a Ben O’Riordan goal helped the Leesiders to claim maximum points), and the south Dubliners received a significant let-off just six minutes into the action.
A Jason Abbott shot from distance was parried into the path of Whelan by UCD netminder Niall Corbet, but even though the Cobh striker finished off the rebound, his effort was ultimately ruled out for offside.
A goal from this attack would have been a major tonic for Ramblers in a traditionally tough away assignment, but with Daire O’Connor offering plenty of pace for UCD on the right-wing, they needed to be on their toes for the remainder of the half.
Jason McClelland fired past the Cobh post – after Cian Coleman had been off-target at the opposition end – and though chances were few and far between, Paul Hunt came to the rescue of Ramblers in the 37th minute.
UCD’s Ben Hanrahan had miscued an initial attempt from a right-hand angle, and after the loose ball fell into the path of Georgie Kelly, the dependable Hunt turned away his subsequent shot.
The travelling Cobh faithful breathed a sigh of relief on this occasion, but following a looping header by centre-half Ben O’Riordan from an Abbott set-piece, Corbet produced a fine fingertip save.
This ensured that the sides remained inseparable at the midway point, and with O’Riordan and underage international James McSweeney forming a strong partnership at the heart of the Cobh defence, it was going to take something special for UCD to break down the visitors.
A fierce volley by McClelland drifted just past Hunt’s post, and despite forcing further pressure on the opposition goal, Cobh almost fell behind on the hour mark.
After McClelland’s cross from the left-flank was only half-cleared, Greg Sloggett was the quickest to react.
The UCD midfielder’s right-footed drive was met by the head of Kelly, but much to the delight of Ramblers, his effort floated agonisingly wide of the mark.
Moving into the final-quarter, it was difficult to see where a breakthrough was going to come from, but the tireless Whelan finally opened the scoring with 12 minutes of normal time remaining.
The teenage centre-forward chased down a long-ball from full-back Kyle McNamara, and after using his strength to hold off the retreating UCD rearguard, he found the bottom corner of the net with a crisp left-footed shot.
Ramblers now had another victory in their sights, and despite being on the back-foot in the dying moments, they were closing out the game impressively.
Hunt dealt effectively with a series of high balls into the box, and after UCD’s Maxum Kouogun head over in stoppage-time, Cobh recorded their eighth league triumph of 2017.
Cobh now face a massive top-of-the-table clash with Waterford next Saturday night in Cobh.
Waterford, who were one nil winners at home to Longford Town last night are the favourites for the title, but Cobh Ramblers in this form, and in front of what they hope will be their biggest crowd of the season, will be ready for this game, knowing a win will see them go top of the table.
UCD: Niall Corbet; Daniel Tobin (Josh Collins 81), Liam Scales, Maxim Kouogun, Evan Osam; Daire O’Connor, Greg Sloggett, Gary O’Neill, Jason McClelland; Georgie Kelly, Ben Hanrahan.
COBH RAMBLERS: Paul Hunt; Charlie Fleming; Ben O’Riordan, James McSweeney, Kyle McNamara; Stephen Christopher, Cian Coleman, Craig Donnellan, Ian Mylod; Matthew Whelan (Dean Swords 89), Jason Abbott.
Referee: Damien McGrath (Mayo).