A cold, rainy night in St Colman's Park - it couldn't stop Cobh Ramblers

IN what could only be described as a grit and grind, the Rams pulled through on a miserable night at St Colman’s Park on Saturday to defeat Wexford and keep their promotion hopes alive.

“The weather is the overriding factor in the game, isn't it?” manager Shane Keegan begins. “I didn't think it was going to get through 90 minutes, to be honest with you, and I don't think the officials did either.

“They said they were going to give the second-half 10 minutes and pull it up if it didn't stop raining! It didn't stop raining, but we stayed going, and that affected everything.

UNSTOPPABLE

“And yet, we managed having obviously suffered the early blow to find a way to dig it out, with one of the only real moments of quality in the entire game. I said in the dressing room before the game half joking, but not half joking. ‘Here's the game plan, lads, do this, do the other and look, if all else fails, just give the ball to Jack’.

“That's kind of how it transpired, because that was absolutely outstanding, and of all people to arrive for the goal. I tried to compliment him in the dressing room, when I kind of had to gather myself, I nearly started crying,” Shane admits.

James has had torture this year with injuries, and his attitude, is just phenomenal.

“He's after landing new day job, working with autistic children. I can't think of a better man for the role. He was outstanding.

“First half, we were just second to a lot of balls for whatever reason,” he says. “I don't know, was it the pressure maybe. We've been underdogs all season, tonight is probably the first night where we haven't been underdogs. I don't know if we coped with that very well in the first half.” Though it was scrappy at times, they managed to find a way to get the result that matters, something that will forever be remembered by the Cobh Ramblers fans.

“The scenes at the end there were just incredible. I've said to the lads in there, I'm sure they have had as many bad days in football as I have had, so when you get the nights like tonight, by God, you have to enjoy them.

“I don't know what's going to happen in the playoff final, [but] we'll give it absolutely everything.

“We fully believe we can pull it off, but this needs to be enjoyed in its own right, regardless of what happens next,” he explains. “In the same way that the season before now had to be enjoyed in its own right.

“The big thing for us was we've been colossal on this pitch all season – to go out of the playoffs on our own pitch was the last thing in the world that any of us wanted, and I think that's probably what found that extra motivation in the second half.”