Henderson takes share of blame for Cobh’s defeat in Dublin
REACTION
Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING his side’s encounter with Cabinteely in the SSE Airtricity League First Division last night, Cobh Ramblers manager Stephen Henderson acknowledged that he had to take his share of the responsibility for their eventual 2-1 defeat.
Teenage defender James McSweeney was selected for this crucial game two days after playing 90 minutes against Norwich City in a high-profile friendly at St Colman’s Park, and Henderson felt stiffness affected him for Cabinteely’s opening minute goal from Kieran ‘Marty’ Waters.
“Young James [McSweeney], he played the full game against Norwich City, which wasn’t ideal. I’ll take responsibility for that. It’s tough when you’re running around after Norwich City, and then two days later coming onto a big pitch. That’s my fault, that’s not James’ fault. The kid is fantastic, he just started the game a little bit stiff,” said Henderson. “I apologised to James for it. He just had a slow start, but he’s a great kid. What he’s done for us this year is phenomenal.”
A second Cabinteely goal by Paul Fox left Cobh with a mountain to climb, before Cian Coleman pulled a goal back for the visitors. The 72nd-minute dismissal of Stephen Christopher proved to be a set-back in their quest for a much-needed equaliser, and although Henderson didn’t have any complaints about his red-card, he criticise the part that Cabinteely full-back Karl Byrne played in the incident.
“We kept at it, and it’s unfortunate with Stevie [Christopher] getting sent-off, because I think he did react with his elbow. Do you know what’s disappointing? The boy [Byrne] holding his face when he clearly hit him in the stomach.
“I’ve no qualms Stephen getting sent-off, but this young fella, he’s watching too much television. Holding his law line when he didn’t go near it. That was disgusting out of him. Down to 10 men, and we still created a good few chances. There was loads of positives.”
With a home game against UCD up next on Saturday evening, Cobh find themselves six points adrift on Waterford United. Christopher will more than likely joined the injured quartet of Charlie Flemming, Jason Abbott, Karl Caulfield and Kyle McNamara on the sidelines, but Henderson has confidence in the players that have returned to fitness in recent weeks.
“The reality is, we’re six points behind Waterford now. We’ve nine games left. There’s a couple of lads who haven’t played in a while after getting a game. Our squad will be stronger for it, and we have to go and really attack this UCD game next week and see where it brings us,” Henderson added.