Another good month in July – 5 points as expected, only 1 goal conceded but 2 0-0’s – we will need to keep an eye on our attacking output.
A tough month coming up, 2 league matches (one eminently winnable, 1 v’s the league leader) and the toughest FAI Cup 1st Round we could have drawn against the Premier Division leaders.
I expect 3 points v Wexford, a tough-ish defeat v Dundalk (Who lost 2-1 on aggregate to Young Boys and have Dunajska Streda of Slovakia in the Europa League 3rd Qual. Round over two legs around our cup tie) and a (most-probably, though we will fight like dogs) defeat v Drogheda.
The usual monthly round-up of attribute changes and stats is below.
A decent month, Rory McGrath making back the strange losses he had in June, Adam Mylod improving in 9 areas, his ability graph is moving upwards.
A defensively strong month. Standout stats are Kane Lewis completing almost 30% of his crosses, Eoin Porter over 3 key passes per game and the team dribbling/running at defence stats with Lyamine Mihoubi dribbling over 5 times a game (and looking really dangerous in doing so).
3 goals in 3 games means we slipped a bit in the xG stakes – now almost 5 goals down over 29 games. Limerick have fallen rapidly since their drop-off in form.
Adam is still doing OK, saving just over 4 goals more than he should in 29 games. Luca Gratzer is still the standout, and Lee Steacy has been replaced in the transfer window by Longford by Paul White, who has started OK.
Jaze Kabia & Yousef Mahdy topping the player xG charts, with Eoin & Ben still in the top 10 for Cobh. Unfortunately David Hurley & Ian Turner are now the worst and 3rd worst by xG in the League….
The Board performance review currently sitting on a B. worries about the lack of entertaining football in July.
So to August, the first news item relates to our last round of games.
Adam Mylod & Carrick Hill make the team of the week. Carrick’s already looking like a really solid signing and its nice to see Adam getting back into form.
Our U19’s played a friendly away at Manulla, winning 3-1, goals from Charlie Lyons, Victor Ekanem & Matthew Lamb.
Monday 10th August – Wexford (H) – First Division
We welcome Wexford this Monday evening with them sitting 9th on 13 points from 20 games, having only won 1 games this season but drawing 10. They have made a couple of good loan signings in the window as well so this could be quite tough. Their recent form is DLLLD, the last game a 2-2 draw with Athlone Town. So we really should beat them. We know how that normally plays out though….
Same as except for a few duty tweaks. Wexford are going 4-4-2 Diamond so I’ll employ the same tweak we did v Longford – we will play around them.
FT Cobh Ramblers 4 (Turner pen 6, McCormack 11, Brennan o.g. 52, O’Riordan 68 Wexford 4 (Furlong 35, pen 66, 90+1, Casey 84) Att 358 (16 Away)
Cobh getting a ton of space out wide early on, and in the 6th minute another Penalty, Mihoubi blocked from getting to a cross. Turner steps up….. and slams it into the bottom right, sending Eric Donnelly the wrong way in the Wexford goal. 1-0 Cobh. One thing I’ve noticed about Mihoubi – he puts the tackles in really well as he breaks another attck up on the left hand side. And in the 11th another goal for Cobh. Wexford’s Kenny was harassed into a cross-field ball that was picked up in the centre-circle by McCormack. He took the ball for 10 yards, passed to Lewis who slipped in Turner. And Ian then crossed to McCormack, who made the 40 yards to get on the end of it and tap in unchallenged from 6 yards. 2-0 Cobh, a storming first quarter to the match. Lewis and Turner are having a lot of joy out on the right, and it was nearly 3 in the 16th minute – a Turner cross cleared to Hurley, who shot from 20 yards, was saved but Mihoubi was there to tap in – unfortunately he was a step offside when Hurley shot. Mayhem currently at St. Colman’s Park. Then out of nowhere it was 2-1. 35th minute, Fleming loses the ball high up the field but we get back well. It took a 25-yarder from Danny Furlong to get past Adam Mylod. Disappointing. We go in 2-1 up, should have been 4-0, we need to step it up a little bit in the 2nd half.
A decent start, Fleming playing as WB on the left is really dangerous, cutting back in like a young Overmars. And in the 52nd minute the breakthrough. A Turner corner is headed straight back out to him. He saunters up, crosses to Eoin McCormack, who’s header deflected in off of Declan Brennan’s shoulder. Oggy, 3-1 Cobh. Set piece after set piece to Cobh, but another roadblock, a penalty given against Evan Murphy that a) was a superb tackle and b) was outside the box. 65th minute. Before the penalty Nolan on for Mihoubi, who made a mistake that led to the Wexford break. Furlong steps up and scores bottom right (Mylod guessed right). 3-2. Demand More. And that’s what we got. 68th minute Turner Corner, O’Riordan flicks a header in from the edge of the 6 yard box, dead centre. 4-2 Cobh. Go for 5 boys!!! Thornton on for Hurley with 15 left, BBM, Porter to DLP(S). Nearly 5 in the 80th minute, a sublime pass from Thornton puts Nolan in, who is saved, then saved onto the post. Kane Lewis off in the 82nd minute, Taylor on, Fleming back to the right. 4-3 in the 84th, a cross from Richie Doyle headed clear by O’Riordan, but Mylod was out of position and Casey tapped into an open net. Hanging on a bit now. And it was 4-fucking-all in the 91st minute. Wexford all over us and we’ve just fallen apart, Furlong peeling off to header in for his hat-trick. We nearly won it in the 96th, a Hill header flashing over the bar. 4-4 it finished, 2 points dropped. Aggressive team talk. We should have sealed this in the 1st half.
The League cup has disrupted the league program (Hence the Monday game), so we were the only game.
There will be a First Division winner of the League Cup this season – Limerick will play Shelbourne after Limerick inflict Drogheda’s with their 2nd defeat of the season (All Competitive matches). Shelbourne knock out Premier Division Sligo 1-0.
The first games in the FAI Cup 1st round were played on Friday night.
As expected – Cups have helped Limerick out as they get another win, this time v Bray.
Our U19’s played Bray in the U19 League, winning 2-0, goals from Daire Doherty & Shane O’Flynn (18yo M/AMC)
The Saturday FAI Cup games have now been played:
There was a small turn-up with Athlone Town beating Cabinteely in extra time, and Shelbourne were knocked out on penalties v Galway. Everything else went as planned.
Sunday 16th August – Dundalk (H) – FAI Cup 1st Round
Today should be a free hit – Dundalk won their Europa League 3rd Qual Round tie v Dunajska Streda 3-2 on aggregate 3 days ago in game, and have the 1st leg of the 4th Qual Round versus APOEL Nicosia this Thursday coming, so they may put a weakened side out – monetarily Europe wins hands down, they will make the Europa league groups if they win that tie, and will make over a quarter of a million GBP even if they lose….
Dundalk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundalk_F.C.) have a starred history, winning the League of Ireland 14 times, including 5 times in the last 6 seasons, and have played a total of 74 games in European competition over the years, including getting to the Europa League Group Stages in 2016/17. They have plenty of money froman Irish Football standpoint, having been taken over by an American consortium in 2018.
The only change is Thornton in for Hurley, so we can go BBM/Porter as DLP(S). I’m going Cautious with tight lines (Not the fishing programme on Sky). Dundalk are going 4-2-3-1 Wide and are playing a mix of kids and first-teamers, including Jordan Flores of the viral goal v Shamrock Rovers recently – https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0302/1119799-jordan-flores-walking-in-surreal-wonder-goal-land/. I expect nothing, lets see if we can surprise a few people.
FT Cobh Ramblers 2 (McCormack 39, O’Riordan 78) Dundalk 1 (Hoare 55) Att 325 (95 Away)
A quiet start, with a good chance for Cobh in the 7th minute, Mihoubi heading over. When they are on the ball they look pretty special though. Another nearly-moment, Thornton tipped onto the cross-bar from a Turner deep free-kick in the 36th minute. From the following Corner O’Riordan had his header tipped onto the post… And our aerial dominance payed off!!!!! McCormack heading in his 16th goal of the season from yet another Turner free kick in the 39th minute. I hope we haven’t poked the bear! But we make it into Half Time 1-0 to the good. A fantastic half, a very even game but you can see how good the Dundalk boys are when they get the ball.
We lasted 9 minutes before Sean Hoare headed in a corner to make it 1-1. Disappointing but we know we can come back. Hurley on for Thornton in the 61st minute, Hurley to BWM(S). Nolan on for Mihoubi with 15 left in normal time. And drama – 78th minute, Turner whips in another delectation, and O’Riordan heads into the bottom right of the Dundalk net. 2-1 Cobh with 12-and-a-half minutes left of normal time…. As expected Dundalk are throwing everything at us now. Wondering whether to hold onto a sub or not for extra’s…pessimistic much. Kevin Taylor on for Kane Lewis in stoppage time…… And we’ve only gone and done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2-1 Cobh. Absolutely stoked for the boys 🙂 £8.7k into the Kitty 🙂 And it wasn’t an FM either, a good closely-fought game when you look at the stats.
I don’t know if Dundalk will be that bothered TBH, but losing breeds losing, something we’ve not done for 9 competitive games now! All the games went to plan except ours 🙂 U.C.D v Longford (2nd time they played in 3 days) was a belter, 2 goals in stoppage time sending it to extras before Paul Moran won it for U.C.D.
And to the 2nd round draw – lots of non-league teams still in there:
We will have to do it the hard way – Away to Waterford, currently 4th in the Premier Division without Europe as a distraction after losing in the Best Place 1st Qual Rnd to Olimpija of Slovenia (1-0 on Aggregate). At least 4 First Division teams will be in the hat for the Quarters. There will be at maximum 4 teams from the Premier Division in there. And we play on the Saturday 29th August; Our league game v Drogheda has been put back to the 7th September. So Waterford are up next.
Our U19’s played out a 5-3 Win v Sheriff Youth Club from Dublin – goals from loanee Chike Kandi – @ObliqueKick 🙂 – Alex Byrne and a hat-trick from Steven Nolan (And 2 assists) from left midfield.
Monday 24th August – There were 3 First Division games:
It looks like Limerick have woken up!! Enda Curran with a hat-trick. All the top 3 winning means we are just 1 point behind Bray in 5th. U.C.D. 9 points ahead might be too much of an ask with 6 games left, 2 of them being Shelbourne & Drogheda…
6 of the 8 games in the 2nd Round happened on Friday 28th – All results as expected, though Drogheda only just beating Crumlin is of interest.
29th August 2020 – Waterford (A) – FAI Cup 2nd Round
We make the 70 mile journey along the N25 to face a very strong Waterford side (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterford_F.C.) at the Regional Sports Centre in the 2nd Round of the FAI Cup. With a Quarter Final awaiting the winner and £13k in prize money, a win would be amazing for us (We’re currently £42k in the Red).
Once a big side, Waterford last played in Europe in the 1986/87 season, though would have played in the Europa League this season if it wasn’t for the “3 year rule” (teams founded in the in the last 3 years can’t play in Europe – Waterford was taken over by Swindon Town Chairman John Power at the start of 2017). In recent times they played in the First Division until said takeover and rebrand (They were known as Waterford United before 2017), when the won the First Division and came 4th in their first season back in 2018. Last season IRL they finished 6th, in game 4th.
Waterford are very strong compared to us squad-wise, but interestingly my scouts see their best player as Steven O’malley, who is currently on loan at Cabinteely….. Again, I’m not expecting anything but a battling performance this afternoon.
If it aint broke…. Only change is Nolan for Mihoubi. Lyamine is still very young and as such has ups and downs with regards to form. He will be a supersub today, I can feel it 🙂 Thornton is ineligible due to hime being a Waterford player. Waterford go with a 4-4-2 and seem to be resting a good few of their first team…..
FT Waterford F.C 0 Cobh Ramblers 1 (McCormack 12) Att 908 (32 Away)
Quite a poor start from Cobh with some individual errors. However we only took the lead in the 12th minute!!! An O’Riordan 9-Iron flicked on by McCormack – Unbeknownst to him the keeper had come for the ball and hadn’t got there – the ball looped into the net. 1-0 Cobh!!! Waterford are at sixes and sevens, as happens when you rotate a squad to death. However Waterford nearly scored in the 22nd minute, Gashi hitting the post after skinning Fleming at leftback. Waterford are pressing really high so ‘Play out of defence’ turned off, Keeper distribution to TM. 30 gone, Cobh have had more shorts, 2/3rds of the possession… Waterford have got to change something? We go in 1-0 at HT.
A quiet start to the second half. Kane Lewis off for Kev Taylor, just before 55, with Fleming going back to the right – Lewis has been pretty poor today but he’s still got to settle in; its not going to happen every game for him. Waterford are turning up the pressure, but in the 64th minute Galvin (Who was showing as Injured as well) gets a 2nd yellow after a lunge through the back of Ian Turner. Waterford will have 10 men for the last 30 minutes of normal time!!! Time for Mihoubi 🙂 65th minute, on for Nolan, who showed some really nice dribbles today. The boys have defended so well today, Mylod has pulled off a couple of beautiful saves. The clock ticks down……… AND WE’VE DONE IT. 1-0 Cobh, 2 massive giant-killings versus teams that didn’t take us seriously!!! Another £13k added to the pot – Now £27k in the Red – £24k made this month 🙂
Limerick complete the Last 8 line-up, beating Letterkenny 1-0.
Our U19’s had another league game, beating U.C.D. U19’s 3-1, daire Doherty, Paul Caulfield & Shane O’Flynn with the goals.
The draw for the FAI Cup Quarter Finals has happened, and we get…….
Bloody hell! Cork City, local rivals and 2nd in the Premier Division………… Unbeaten since losing to Dundalk at the start of June…. Only Shamrock Rovers could have been a more difficult draw. At least 2 First Division teams will be in the Semis.
Rounding off the month there were 3 league matches on the 31st.
Bray pull 4 points away from us with a good win v Athlone Town. Shelbourne’s charge has slowed with a draw with U.C.D. (the stats were pretty mental, 23 shots for Shelbourne, 2 for U.C.D), and Cabinteely pick up the win late doors v Wexford.
And that raps up another successful month – the disappointment of letting 2 points slip v Wexford more than offset by 2 amazing cup giant-killings. Below are the Key Highlights from this month’s games.
September brings us 3 league games and the Cup Quarters – 3 very tough games followed by one we should win. And unfortunately the 3 tough games are all within 6 days…. I don’t think Cork will be resting anyone (Though maybe if the AI doesn’t see us as a threat it might not take the fact we’ve beaten the top and 4th placed teams in the Premier League already into account). Hopefully for a decent gate at Turner’s Cross as well – they have been averaging 3,500 to 4,000 crowds, the top in Ireland. See you soon.