Like most League of Ireland clubs Cobh Ramblers and Longford Town share connections. Stephen Henderson, the manager who took Ramblers to the First Division Title in 2007 and guided them to a League Cup Final during a second spell in charge in 2018, most recently managed in the League of Ireland at Longford Town between 2022 and 2024. Ram’s recent five goal hero Dylan McGlade also played for Longford in two spells between 2016 and 2018.
Longford like Cobh is one of the smaller towns supporting a League of Ireland team with a population of just over 10,000. They are the only First Division club which play there games on Saturday evenings instead of the usual Friday nights to facilitate their players which are often based outside the Longford area. Despite these limitations ‘De Town’s” home ground of Bishopsgate is one of the best in the League of Ireland being all seated with good facilities.
Both teams came into the game on Friday night in good form. Cobh Ramblers had won three in a row, with two of those victories away, the latest a 2-nil win over Finn Harps in Donegal. Longford’s last outing was an impressive one nil victory over Bray Wanderers. Reflecting Ramblers good form manager Fran Rockett maintained the same starting eleven from the Finn Harps game. Cian Coleman, Claudio Osario, Shane ‘Little Griff’ Griffin and Luca Le Bervet all remained out with injuries.
In a first half of very little quality Ramblers appeared particularly flat, unable to get any flow or tempo to their game. Perhaps the three games in a week and a long away trip to Finn Harps had taken its toll. Longford Town, while brighter, also struggled to create anything of note. Only Andy Paraschiv, recently signed from Dundalk caused Timo Martin in the Cobh goal any concern with a pair of shots from distance which were gathered easily. Five minutes from the interval Longford’s Aaron Doran fizzed a strike past Timo Martin’s right-hand post but the Rams keeper appeared to have it covered.
Ramblers only chance came in the 34th minute when Oran Crowe was fed by Rhy Brennan on the edge of the box, but the Cobh man dragged his shot wide. In first half injury time Doran drove a free kick from a promising position on the edge of the box straight into the Ramblers wall. It remained scoreless at the break.
Shane ‘Big Griff’ Griffin replaced Frahill at halftime due to injury. In the second half Ramblers tried to up the energy and four minutes into the second half McGlade had a free kick from outside the box saved by Kian Moore in the Longford goal. Likewise, in the 67th minute Doran had a similar free kick from distance for Longford which was saved by Martin.
The game exploded into life in the 78th minute when Longford’s Paraschiv found room down the left, after a good cross field ball by Adenekan, and drove into the box. His initial shot from ten yards was well saved by Martin. The rebound was scrambled off the line by Shane Griffin. On the 90th minute Brennan tried his luck with a long range free kick but once again Moore in the Longford goal was up to the task. The nil all draw and one point apiece for both sides was a fair reflection on a poor-quality game.
The draw lifts Cobh Ramblers up to 4th in the table on 16 points, 2 behind UCD in second. Longford moved to 11 points and stand seventh in the league.
LineUps
Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin; Callum Honohan, Breandán Frahill (Shane Griffin HT), Garry Buckley, Lucas Curtin (Brian Lenihan 82); Oran Crowe, Mikey Carroll; Rhys Kelly Noonan (Wilson Waweru 77), Rhys Gourdie; Dylan McGlade (Kai O’Neill 67), Rhys Brennan.
Longford Town: Kian Moore; Conor Errity (Jake Hough 12), Daniel McKenna, Taylor McCarthy, Osaze Irhue; Sultan Adenekan, Dean Williams (Daragh Murtagh 77); Andy Paraschiv, Pharrell Manuel (Francis Campbell 80), Alex O’Brien; Aaron Doran.
Referee: Declan Toland
Interviews
Speaking after the game Ramblers’ captain and Man of the Match Gary Buckley reflected on the fixture. ‘There wasn’t many chances for either team. I don’t think any keeper was tested, so it was kind of a game where you don’t lose and keep clean sheets and you can take a point and you move on.’
Reflecting on Ramblers haul of 10 points from a possible 12 Buckley said ‘the performances have been good the last couple of weeks. I suppose tonight was probably a bit off, but like I said, we got a point and got a clean sheet and something to build on.’
Looking forward to the next game away to Wexford Buckley stated ‘Yeah, good team. They caused us problems in the first game of the season. They’re a good side, good players, but we’re full of confidence at the moment. Hopefully we’ll get a good performance and win the game, like we try to do every game.’
Cobh Manager Fran Rockett was equally disappointed with the performance. ‘I thought we were flat tonight. I thought we were off it and probably weren’t ourselves. Couldn’t get into a rhythm in the first five minutes. I didn’t think we started the game as brightly as what we should have done. The way we held out, I think our game management towards the end of it, lads dug in. We got a point so we’re going to be happy with it as well. Because when you’re off it, the most important thing is that the minimum you get is a point. We’ll move on. We’re not going to get too down hearted about it.’
Rockett praised Ramblers defensive resilience. ‘It’s a typical First Division game there tonight for me. Very little quality but you’ve got to dig in and roll up your sleeves. That’s what we got from the lads tonight. When you don’t play well, you’ve got to stick together as a team. When that creative spark isn’t there, we’ve got to show another side to us.’
Next up for Ramblers is an away trip to Wexford on Friday 24th April.
Longford Town’s next game is at home to Kerry FC on Saturday 25th April.