Cobh Ramblers aiming for first FAI Cup win in four years when they host Kerry FC

COBH Ramblers will look to record their first win in the FAI Cup since 2021 this Friday when they face Kerry FC in the competition’s second round at St Colman’s Park (7.45pm).

This game also gives Gary Hunt and his players an opportunity to restock after last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Wexford FC at Ferrycarrig Park, a result that could damage the team’s chances of qualifying for the play-offs at the end of the season.

The cup is a fresh start for Cobh, and an opportunity to exorcize demons after a number of bad losses and false starts in recent editions of the FAI Cup. The worst of all was in 2021, when they went down to perennial intermediate cup challengers Maynooth University Town 3-2 at John Hyland Park, and that was followed by defeats to Cork City and UCD.

The full story is that Cobh have not had a run in the cup since 2016, when they qualified for the quarter finals and narrowly lost to St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park. Ever since that day in Dublin, there’s been very little to cheer about when it comes to the main national cup competition.

The Ramblers did have one good spell in the League of Ireland Cup, and that journey ended in a defeat to Derry City in the final at the Brandywell in 2018. There’s also been some notable adventures in the Munster Senior Cup, but those days out are pale when compared to the allure of the FAI Cup.

It’s not like the club doesn’t have history in the competition. The Ramblers were propelled into the modern era by their run to the semi-finals in 1983, and their epic trilogy with Sligo Rovers.

That was over 30 years ago, not that time changes the romance associated with one of the great FAI Cup stories.

As for Kerry, they seem suited to knock-out football and that has reflected in their recent results.

Conor McCarthy’s side have managed to draw with Bray Wanderers and Wexford, while narrowly losing to Finn Harps at Ballybofey.

They regularly show that in the league by frustrating some of the best sides in the division, and that way of operating led to the club going through three rounds in the Munster Senior Cup and qualifying for the final, where they narrowly lost to Waterford FC at Turner’s Cross.

Cobh know what Kerry are like when everyone is on form. The Kingdom knocked them out of the Munster Senior Cup last spring and ended their threepeat campaign, and that started a recent trend of games between the two teams being tight and close-knit affairs.

Ramblers did win the last meeting at St Colman’s Park 1-0, with Matthew McKevitt scoring the winner in the 20th minute. That was followed by a small injury lay-off for McKevitt, and he returned just as Hunt was forced to look at his extended squad over injuries to Dean Larkin and Pierce Philips.

They were forced off the pitch during the game with Wexford at Ferrycarrig Park, and that started a chain reaction which ended in the home side scoring three times during the second half.

Cobh are will need everyone available for the next couple of months, as they look to balance as play-off push and a possible cup run, something not done in east Cork since 2021.