Ruairí Keating grabs dramatic winner as Cork City break Cobh Ramblers hearts at St Colman's Park

Cobh Ramblers 0 Cork City 1 

Ruairí Keating’s goal in the 90th minute saw Cork City maintain their perfect record in the derby this season as they defeated 10-men Cobh Ramblers at St Colman’s Park on Friday night. 

It was Keating’s first goal since returning to the club to arguably give City an undeserved victory against Ramblers, who had to play over 50 minutes of the game with a man less after Jason Abbott was sent-off in the 40th minute.

There were two changes to the City side that faced Derry City last week with Mattew Kiernan coming into the team for his first start since the opening day of the season. There was also a surprise inclusion for Niall Brookwell who made his first appearance since sustaining an injury against Athlone Town at the end of May.

Ramblers made one change from the team that defeated Kerry two weeks previous, with Regix Madika replacing James O'Leary.

Seani Maguire registered his first effort of the night when the striker turned sharply inside the Ramblers’ penalty area but the 30-year-old failed to hit the target.

City continued to search for the opening goal with Ruairi Keating and Darragh Crowley firing off-target from distance.

Ramblers showed a lot more fight than in the previous three meetings between the sides this season and were making it a scrappy game for the visitors. They weren’t afraid to go back to front frequently and often gave away ‘tactical fouls’ to prevent City from getting into a rhythm.

Wade was called into action to prevent Madika from scoring before Jason Abbott fired over. Madika was causing City problems with his physical presence with the City defence struggling to overpower the striker.

Ramblers’ evening was made more difficult five minutes before half-time when the home side were reduced to 10 men after Abbott received his second yellow card for a coming-together with Keating.

Matthew Kiernan linked up well with Maguire five minutes into the second-half but the former Preston North End player could only fire straight at Darragh Burke.

City’s extra man was beginning to tell as they started to put more pressure on their local rivals. However, for all their possession, the visitors weren’t creating any clear-cut chances, with Ramblers looking well-organised.

Greg Bolger showed his value when he excellently prevented Mattew McKevitt from breaking the deadlock with a wonderful tackle just on the edge of the six-yard area.

Bolger went close late in the game when the midfielder managed to find space outside the Ramblers’ box but fired over the crossbar.

Keating showed why he is such a valuable asset to City when he powered a header past the helpless Burke in the Cobh goal.

RAMBLERS: Burke; Evers, Frahill, Browne, McCarthy; Le Bervet (O’Leary 76), Holland, Larkin (Phillips 76), Abbott; Madika (T O’Brien 76), McKevitt.

CITY: Wade; Crowley, Brookwell, Lyons, Kiernan (McLaughlin 71); O’Sullivan, Bolger, Murray (Coffey 71), Dijksteel (Doherty 60); Maguire (Murphy 82), Keating.

Referee: A Dowd.