Doherty free kick sees Cobh Ramblers secure pivotal win over Athlone Town

Cobh Ramblers 1 Athlone Town 0 

JACK Doherty’s breath-taking free kick on Saturday night at St Colman’s Park put the Rams five-points ahead of Athlone Town and in a great position to secure third in the League of Ireland First Division.

Though a scrappy contest for much of the game, Keegan’s men were the better side and put in an incredible shift to pick up a second successive home clean sheet.

While the stakes will certainly be higher if these two come together in a post-season playoff, both terms were certainly unimpressive going forward in the opening quarter of an hour in what is undoubtedly a six-pointer.

It took until near the half hour mark for either side to really test a goalkeeper, but Cian Browne managed it in remarkable fashion with a header from outside the box that rattled the Athlone crossbar.

The rebound result in a half chance for Justin Equaibor, but he couldn’t fire quick enough, and Athlone dealt with the danger.

Dylan Gavin won a free kick from just outside the Rams area after a foul from Dale Holland, and Daniel McKenna teed it up for Frantz Pierrot who released a thundering strike, but it was wide of the mark, keeping in line with the tale of the first half.

The remainder of the half was a composition of strong defending and feeble attacking, as neither side looked like finding the back of the net. The Rams were certainly the better of the two, having created a significantly more half chances, but Minogue was relatively untested.

On the eve of the half Athlone’s Jamar Campion-Hinds broke through with a superb counterattack, and looked to get a cross into Frantz Pierrot, but Mikie Rowe’s superb interception did enough to knock it out for a corner.

The second half brought with it a lot more urgency, as both sides upped the tempo knowing what was at stake.

A beautiful piece of skill from centre-back Charlie Lyons earned the Rams a free kick in a dangerous area on the hour mark, and Jack Doherty took full advantage, with his curling strike flying into the top left corner, leaving Minogue rooted to the spot.

Needing a response, Ukranian Valerii Dolia almost provided one, as his powerful effort forced Lee Steacy to leap high and push it over the crossbar.

Still searching for the equaliser, Campion-Hinds crossed a great ball into the box that Gavin connected with, but Jason Abbott got his body on the line to ensure Cobh remained in front.

The follow up resulted in an even better delivery from Campion-Hinds, and Gavin’s point-blank header was kept out by an excellent save from Steacy with a quarter of an hour to go.

Campion-Hinds continued to be a thorn in Cobh’s side, with his pace down the wing causing all sorts of problems, but the east Cork outfit continued their show of resilience and would not let up, with Tiernan O’Brien’s incredible interception to stop a certain goal the perfect metaphor for the Rams performance.

COBH RAMBLERS: L Steacy; C Browne, J Eguaibor, B Frahill, C Lyons, W Waweru (A Byrne 87), J Doherty (L Casey 90+3), M Rowe (A Thibaut 90+3), D Holland (L Desmond 74), T O’Brien, J Abbott (D Larkin 87).

ATHLONE TOWN: E Minogue; J Kavanagh, N van Geenan, D McKenna, P Hickey, F Pierrot, V Dolia (S Forbes 81), D Gavin, O Duffy, J Campion-Hinds, M Leal (J McGlone 68).

Referee: Marc Lynch