Cobh Ramblers bounced back from opening weekend defeat with a vital 2–1 win away to Longford Town at Bishopsgate. Goals from Rhy Brennan and Callum Honohan secured three crucial points in testing conditions.
Longford Town 1
Cobh Ramblers 2
The last time Cobh Ramblers visited Bishopgate, in the penultimate game of the 2025 season, the 3-1 defeat they suffered that night was the final nail in the coffin of the Rams title aspirations. The fixture on Saturday night against Longford Town could equally be season defining. Following a heavy defeat at home to Wexford on the opening weekend it was imperative the Ramblers got their season started by bringing something back from Longford. The fact that a win could move Cobh off the foot of the table provided extra incentive if any were necessary.
For the Rams Cian Coleman dropped back from centre midfield to his usual centre half slot, partnered by Gary Buckley, with Brendeán Frahill dropping to the bench. Honohan started at right back and Shane ‘Big Grif’ Griffn at left back. In midfield Jason Abbott, making his 189th League of Ireland appearance, and Rhys Gourdie line up alongside Mikey Carroll with Claudio Osorio missing out. In attack Anthony Adenopo was replaced by Rhy Brennan who partnered Wilson Waweru and Kia O’Neill in attack. Injuries excluded Dylan McGlade, Shane ‘Little Grif’ and Luka Le Bervet from the match day squad. Oran Crowe returned to the bench after an injury picked up against Waterford in the Munster Senior Cup.
Conditions were testing, with heavy rain and wind throughout the game, on a difficult surface, which passed a late pitch inspection. After a nervy start with Longford in the ascendancy, Rhys Brennan, the nineteen year old winger on loan from Bohemians, opened the scoring in the 17th minute with his first Ramblers goal. Longford continued to press after the Cobh goal with a flurry of corners resulting in a good chance for Omorehiomwan in the 28th minute but the Longford man shot over. Ramblers weathered this period of pressure well.
In the 32nd minute Kai O’Neill had a good chance after a long throw from Honohan but was unable to convert. Mikey Carrol was booked in the 33rd min after a foul on Osaze Irhue. The young Cobh Ramblers midfielder worked tenaciously throughout. Longford’s Pharrell Manuel was shown a yellow card in the 36 minute for pulling back a Ramblers player. From the resulting free kick a scramble developed in the box before the ball fell to Honohan ten yards out from goal. The Shamrock Rovers loanee fired home for his first career goal.
As the first half ran out Longford continued to enjoy spells of possession without creating any clear cut chances. Rams continued to defend well with Coleman and Buckley extremely resolute at the heart of the Cobh defence.
In the second half the challenging conditions continued making it difficult for any play of quality to develop. In the 46th minute Longford’s Murtagh was booked for a heavy tackle on Gourdie. On the 51th minute Waweru found himself free in the box but couldn’t generate enough power from his header which was collected by Moore in the Longford goal.
In the 55th minute Ramblers almost made it three after a sweeping move which saw Kai O’Neill break, feeding Brennan who skilfully back heeled the ball into the path of Rhys Gourdie. The Glaswegian’s shot, unfortunately for Cobh, struck the base of the post. Soon after Dean George shot straight at Chambers from the edge of the box. Minutes later George was booked for a late challenge on the Cobh goalkeeper. On 61 minutes Longford withdrew George and Paraschiv for McKenna and Ugbesia.
The cards continued in the 63rd minute with Ramblers Abbott going into the book. Doran’s shot from the resulting free kick was saved well by Chambers. Longford were awarded a penalty in the 66rd minute when Honohan handled in the box. The Ramblers defender was also booked. Doran made no mistake from the spot to half Ramblers lead.
Cobh withdrew Abbott for Lenihan on 69 minutes. Longford also rang the changes in an attempt to sway the game in their favour with Doran replaced with Campbell, Murtagh with Williams and Irhue with Hough. In the 76th minute Cobh once more should have stretched their lead when a free kick fell to Cian Coleman at the back post but the centre half screwed his effort wide from 5 yards out. Rhys Brennan continued to be excellent throughout the second half in both defence and attack.
2 loanees, 2 goals, 3 points on the board.
Big nights for Rhys Brennan notching his first goal in Cobh colours on his first start, and Callum Honohan hitting the back of the net for his first career goal. #LOI #LOIMFD #UpTheRams pic.twitter.com/XqFZ252DpI
— Cobh Ramblers FC (@CobhRamblersFC) February 21, 2026
Ramblers exchanged Frahill for Honohan and Kelly-Noonan for Kai O’Neill in the 82nd minute. Longford continued to look for an equaliser without creating any great chances in what was a nervous last ten minutes for the visitors. Longford’s Shane Moore was next in the book on 87 minutes for pulling back Waweru. The Cobh striker was replaced by Lucas Curtin in the 89th minute. Kelly-Noonan was booked for a late tackle in injury time. Rhy Brennan was booked in the 95th minute for kicking the ball away and preventing a quick restart by Longford.
It was a vital three points away from home on a tough night for Ramblers who were deserved winners on the balance of play. The result lifts Cobh up to seventh in the league, three points behind leaders Cork City and Athlone, who both are on six points after two wins, at the start of the 2026 campaign. Longford are eighth, also on three points.
Longford Town: Kian Moore; Alex O’Brien, Cole Omorehiomwan, Osaze Irhue (Jake Hough
75), Conor Errity; Pharrell Manuel, Sean Moore; Dean George (Stefan Ugbesia 60), Aaron
Doran (Fran Campbell 75), Andy Paraschiv (Daniel McKenna 60); Daragh Murtagh (Dean
Williams 75).
Cobh Ramblers: Corey Chambers; Callum Honohan (Brendeán Frahill 83), Garry Buckley, Cian
Coleman, Shane Griffin; Rhys Brennan, Mikey Carroll, Jason Abbott (Brian Linehan 70), Rhys
Gourdie; Kai O’Neill (Rhys Kelly-Noonan 83), Wilson Waweru (Lucas Curtin 90).
Post Match Interview
Fran Rockett speaking after the game was full of praise for his two loanees, Rhy Brennan from Bohs and Callum Honohan from Shamrock Rovers.
‘I couldn’t have been prouder of the two lads. I thought Rhy Brennan, there were question marks when I took him in. People were saying he’s a dribbler, he’s a fancy dan, this, that and the other. I think on a night out there, on that pitch, he showed that he has character and guts and courage to get on the ball. And he retained the ball really well for a young lad. He showed everything I was expecting of him after talking to Rennie [Alan Reynolds, Bohemians Manager].
I thought Callum has been a colossus for us. Nineteen years of age, he can move, technically very good, adaptable positionally and really exciting. I get a buzz from seeing these young fellas flourish and we had quite a few of them out there tonight which is brilliant. That performance will do them the world of good moving into the other games, moving forward as well. Between astroturf and grass it isn’t easy. It was an education for them tonight but they stood up to it and came through it.’
Speaking on bouncing back from a difficult result against Wexford last time out Rockett stated ‘It’s a bit of redemption I suppose, especially for the fans and the people of Cobh and the people who turned up last week because we didn’t turn up. Tonight we came too and played our part.’
Cobh Ramblers next game is at home to Finn Harps while Longford travel to Kerry FC. Both games take place on Friday Feb 27th .