Cobh Ramblers and Cork City on course for Munster Senior Cup showdown as fixtures finalised

THE Munster Football Association have confirmed the fixture details for Cork City and Cobh Rambler’s upcoming Munster Senior Cup semi-finals against Waterford and Treaty United.

Colin Healy’s team will take on the Blues on Tuesday, March 21 at Ozier Park with kick-off set for 7.45pm.

The day before will see the Ramblers face Treaty United at Jackman Park in Limerick, and that game is pencilled in to get underway at 7.45pm.

This means that an all-Cork final is a possibility with both City and Cobh on opposite sides of the draw.

The two teams met in the 2022 final at Turner’s Cross and Shane Keegan’s team won 1-0 with James O’Leary scoring the only goal of the game.

His long-range free-kick into the St Anne’s End delivered Cobh’s fifth title, and they are now looking to retain the cup for the first time in their history.

Cobh have already made a statement in the competition as they beat Munster Senior League side Everton 8-1 in the quarter-finals last January at the Stephen Ireland Astro.

The Ramblers were electric that night with Tiernan O’Brien, Luke Desmond, Dale Holland, Jack Doherty, Jason Abbott and Wilson Waweru all getting on the scoresheet. They will come up against a Treaty team that were lucky to get the better of Ringmahon Rangers at Ringmahon Park in the last round.

The Shannonsiders took an early 3-1 lead and the home side responded by scoring two late goals to force extra time. Ringmahon were the better team after that but Treaty caught them out with a late counter-attack and that gave them a 4-3 win.

ONE BETTER

They are now just 90 minutes away from their first-ever senior final, and they are hoping to go one better than last season’s loss to City in the competition’s semi-finals at the Market Fields.

Ethon Varian was the hero for the City in the quarter-finals as he scored a hat-trick during a 4-1 win at O’Sullivan Park against Castleview.

That was their first competitive game of 2023 and Healy started a team featuring a number of youth players, including Arran Healy who scored the fourth goal.

They will face a Waterford side that beat Midleton AFC 2-1 in the last round at the RSC. The Blues, who last lifted the trophy in 2013, went a goal down inside the first minute through a strike from James Leahy. Waterford hit back with Junior Quitirna and Thomas Oluwa scoring, and that was enough to send them through to the semi-finals for the first time since 2018.

City’s game with Waterford is a rematch of the 2018 semi-finals which saw the Rebel Army win 3-0 at O’Shea Park in Blarney.