Shane Keegan reveals importance of remaining third after win over Longford

THE Rams 2-0 win over Longford Town on Friday night may not have had much weighing on it from a Cobh perspective, but it did decide one thing – Cobh will be playing Wexford in their playoff semi-finals.

What is yet to be decided though, is where the two will finish in the table, and the sides will do battle this Sunday, but how important is it to manager Shane Keegan that his side finish third?

“It's probably more important for the club than it is for me,” Keegan admits. “The story is, if we drop to fourth, our home leg is on a Tuesday evening. I know it’s a play off, but still, the crowd would be affected, as opposed to if we get third, our home leg is on a Saturday evening.

“There's a Rugby World Cup final on that night, a match that Ireland could potentially be playing in. Potential for the bar to be hopping, the cash registers ringing,” he explains. “Those things are important and do count, and I was made aware of that is probably the best way of putting it.

“Before I realised the importance of trying to finish third, there was probably another three changes planned for tonight. We're not quite there yet, we'd have to lose both [remaining games], they'd have to win both. We should be more than capable of securing third spot now.

Rams’ resilience to grind out a win even when not at their best is precisely why they’re best of the rest, and it’s something we saw again on Friday night.

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“I know the table would suggest more, but there's been very little between the two sides all season long. Let's be honest again, there wasn’t a whole lot between the sides again tonight, but we've managed to just about come out on the right side of it.

“I think we're capable of an awful lot better. But at the same time, we showed tonight that we're able to win a game when we don't play really well, which is very important.” Keegan made five changes from the defeat to Bray, and explained what he felt the difference in performance came down to.

“I probably over egged it a little bit last week in terms of, not so much the personnel I brought in, but on balance in the side, particularly without Charlie Lyons on the left of the back three.

“We probably unbalanced the side a little bit, and I have to hold my hand up there. That result was certainly partly my fault, whereas tonight we looked a lot more balanced again.

With Mike McCarthy putting in an exceptional performance and taking home the man of the match award, Keegan was full of praise for the young right back. “I've said on a couple of occasions that I think the sky is the limit for Mike in terms of where his career goes over the next 5-10 years.

“One of the reasons I think the sky’s the limit for Mike is he's one of the best I've ever worked with in terms of taking information on board. You put a challenge up to Mike and he specifically goes looking for improvement in himself in that area.

With Wilson Waweru seen kissing the badge after scoring the opening goal, Rams fans will be wondering if it has any bearing on his future with the club, but Keegan ensures nothing is decided yet.

“Oh Jesus, I don't know. Pretty sure I saw Harry Kane kissing the badge last year, so I'm not too sure about that! He’s been a revelation for us this season. People said at the start of the season that he might be difficult to handle, he's been anything but”