Match Preview: Cobh Ramblers v Shelbourne FC

Cobh Ramblers are back in St Colman’s Park this Saturday night, taking on second place Shelbourne in the latest round of First Division action.

A late winner for Cabinteely last weekend saw them take all three points in Ramblers’ last game, while unbeaten Shels were 1-0 winners over high-flying Athlone in their previous outing.

The sides last met in 2019, Shelbourne’s First Division winning season. That year all three meetings resulted in home victories, including two for Cobh at St Colman’s.

Former Rams midfielder Denzil Fernandes will hope to feature for the visiting side, now in his third year at Tolka Park. Meanwhile Cobh’s David O’Leary will also come up against his former side, having spent the 2017 campaign at Shels.

On the injury front, Martin Coughlan, Ben O’Riordan and Corey Chambers will face late fitness tests ahead of the tie, with Caelin Rooney, Regix Madika, Stephen O’Leary and Pierce Phillips still definite absentees. Darren Murphy and Conor Drinan returned to the squad in Cabinteely and should be fit to feature this weekend.

Defender Charlie Lyons returns from his suspension, while the game is likely to come slightly too soon for striker Ciaran Griffin who continues his return to full fitness.

Ahead of the game Stuart Ashton had this to say in his weekly press-conference,

“We need to learn from our mistakes. We’ve done all our preparations, as a collective we take that on board. Hopefully we have done and will show that on Saturday night.

Shelbourne have started the season well but we have our game plan and we’re confident in that. If we cut those mistakes out we give ourselves a great chance. Last week we didn’t take the chances we created, we have to do that. We want to create even more, but the chances we do make we need to be more ruthless.

The camp is good. The spirits are high. Hopefully moving forward from here on in, we put things right and get the right results.”

Midfielder Darren Murphy also spoke to the press prior to kick-off, following his return from an achilles injury,

“For us it’s getting a bit frustrating. We’re playing well, we’re playing good football. But it’s getting to the stage where we need to just get points on the board. It’s all about results at the end of the day.

It’s still a long season, with a lot of games to be played. We’ve a great squad here with good players and we all believe it’s going to come right soon. We have to keep going and keep believing that we can climb that table. We’re still fully confident.”

Kick-off on Saturday night is at 19:00, with the game being streamed live on LOI TV here. One game passes are available for €5.