Cobh Ramblers 8 Everton 1

COBH Ramblers opened up their Munster Senior Cup defence with a comprehensive 8-1 victory over Everton at the Stephen Ireland Astro in Old Church Park.

Shane Keegan handed competitive debuts to a host of new signings and loanee Wilson Waweru rewarded his new coach by scoring twice during a 4-0 rout of the Munster Senior League First Division side in the first half.

It took just three minutes for the ball to hit the net, and it was Tiernan O’Brien who knocked in a cross from Cian Browne. This set the tempo for a commanding performance by the home side, which saw them double their advantage through captain Jason Abbott with just seven minutes on the clock.

He finished off a neat piece of passing play with a driven shot that put the ball well beyond the reach of the Everton goalkeeper. This gave Cobh a comfortable lead that never once looked like relinquishing.

The only real chance that Everton could get in the first half came from Jason Forde pouching on a loose pass from Issa Kargbo. This fell just before the reach of the former Cork City Academy graduate and that allowed Cian Hammond to come out and clear the ball for his side.

The full-back almost made up for this mistake with a close run down the right flank but he ended up hitting the side netting.

This didn’t matter by the time the referee blew for the half time as it was 4-0 and Waweru had knocked the ball around and in past Cian Hammond on two different occasions.

This could have been it but Cobh were relentless and it became five goals scored just nine minutes into the second half. Luke Desmond headed in the first from close range and that was followed up with Jack Sexton pulling one back for Everton.

The next time the ball went in, it came from a curling free kick from Jack Doherty that went low and into the bottom right corner.

The stunning strike encouraged Cobh to keep going and O’Brien flicked in his second goal of the game. Substitute Dale Holland then forced the ball in and that completed Cobh’s night and their passage to the semi-finals of the Munster Senior Cup.

It was a stunning win by a club who have never retained the cup in their year history.

COBH: Darragh Burke; Cian Browne, Brendeán Frahill, Jason Abbott, Charlie Lyons, Jack Doherty (Pierce Philips 70), Callum Stringer, Luke Desmond (Dale Holland 70), Wilson Waweru (Jake Hegarty 79), Issa Kargbo (Darragh O’Sullivan Connell), Tiernan O’Brien.

EVERTON: Cian Hammond; Shaun Sweeney (Ben Hamblin 46), Eoin O’Keeffe, Daniel O’Sullivan, Troy O’Sullivan, Robert O’Sullivan, Jason Forde (Aaron West 78), Jack Allen (Jack Sexton 46), Aaron Greany (Kallum Long 78), Cian O’Brien (Billy Kadina 68), Adam O’Donoghue.

Referee: Cian Sheehan