Cobh boss Gary Hunt regrets ‘slow start’ as he picks up the pieces from derby defeat to Cork City 

COBH RAMBLERS manager Gary Hunt put his side’s ‘slow start’ down as a key reason for their 3-0 defeat to Cork City at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.

The derby came at the right time for the club – they were on the back of successive draws against Bray Wanderers and Longford Town – and their night was ruined by early Jack Doherty and Barry Coffey goals that gave the Rebel Army a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes.

There was no let up from City, who also made sure that Matthew McKevitt and Beneoin O’Brien Whitmarsh had very little room in the final third when they tried to create something.

Cobh only caused one moment of panic around the penalty area, and that shot from Jack Larkin was pushed out for a corner by Brad Wade. 

The resulting set-piece came to nothing, and the game ended with Evan McLaughlin sealing the win for the home side.

“Difficult result to take – horrible night for football,” Hunt summed the game.

“The conditions were tough. I’m not making excuses by any teams, but we need to park it now and move on. 

"That is not going to define us by any means.

“[A] Slow start – they got down our left side, their right side, and [there were] deliveries into the box.

“The first goal was a mis-hit clearance and it falls into his path [Jack Doherty] and he finishes. 

"Then, I suppose, it changes the dynamic of the game. I thought the second goal, we under-hit the clearance and it falls to them and they can re-attack. 

"They can beat us down that side. 2-0 then and we’re chasing the game.” 

Cobh brought on Justin Eguaibor and changed their shape after the break, and the coach’s tinkering gave the team a new lease of life. 

The Ramblers looked solid in defence during this minutes after the restart, and this built up to a Jack Larkin shot forcing a stretched save from Brad Wade.

City came through this spell and caught Cobh out with a well worked counter attack that McLaughlin was at the end of.

“Cork deserved the three points tonight,” Hunt admitted.

“As I said, I felt the first two goals stunned us a little. 

"It took us to half-time to regroup and finally refresh ourselves. We made a change and definitely, the first half of that second half we said we’d stay in the game and for the last fifteen minutes we’d go after.

“The third goal was the killer. We’re looking at how we changed the game, from there to chasing after them after staying in the game. 

"They bring on a few subs and hit us again on the break. That is the game dead and buried there.” 

The result wasn’t the only thing that hung on Hunt’s shoulders, he was also burdened by his side’s lack of penetration when running at the City defence.

“In every game we’ve made some chances and today we just found it hard to make some changes, that is, unfortunately, it,” he said.

“We [have to] dust ourselves down. We made mistakes and we have to take it on the chin. 

"I said it to the lads, not to let tonight define them because they are a better group than that. 

"We were just caught on the hop tonight and unfortunately we weren’t prepared.

“I’ll take that on the chin. That is my fault as manager. The players will dust themselves down. 

"They are a good group. They will go again. They have good character. They will rally around each other.”