Early goal for Bray started rot for Cobh
U19 SOCCER
Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING their encounter with Bray Wanderers the SSE Airtricity U19 League at Carrickmines last Sunday, Cobh Ramblers coach Davin O’Neill admitted that a poor start to the game played a part in their eventual 4-0 defeat.
A opening-minute goal by Cian Maher meant that Ramblers were always chasing the game, and although he felt there was enough time for the visitors to work their way back into contention, O’Neill acknowledged it wasn’t an ideal way to begin the action.
“It was very disappointing to concede so early on. I think when the goalkeeper [Arthur Nganou] messes up, it’s nearly almost certainly a goal. Unfortunately for us, it was an individual error, that you can’t train for,” O’Neill remarked.
“That was disappointing, to go down 1-0, but there was still 89 minutes left to eradicate that error. That wasn’t the cause of the result as such. It played a part obviously, but it wasn’t the end.”
Ramblers were unbeaten in six games heading into this fixture, and had recorded a magnificent 3-1 triumph over Shamrock Rovers eight days earlier. O’Neill (who took charge of the team in the absence of manager Damien Rowe) had spoken about the dangers of complacency to the side prior to kick-off, but also believed that their excellent run had to come to an end at some point.
“We were coming into this on the back of a very good win against Shamrock Rovers. The one thing we said to the lads in the dressing room beforehand was about complacency, where it can’t be present today.
“We drilled that into the lads before the game actually started. We were delighted with the last six or seven games, but it had to come to an end sometime.”
While this was a set-back for Cobh, they remain in the play-off positions ahead of their next league encounter against rivals Cork City on Friday week.
Claiming a top-four spot continues to be their ultimate goal for 2017, and O’Neill stressed that they will work on improving their performance levels from Sunday’s game.
“The next league game is Friday week against Cork. That’s obviously a big game, local derby as well.
“Our goal at the start of the season was to try and make it into the top-four, and be there at the end of the season obviously.
“On our day we’re capable of mixing it up with the best in our league. Today wasn’t one of them days, but I think we’ll work hard on eradicating what we’ve seen today, and look to develop these young players further,” O’Neill added.