Cobh Ramblers' adaptability and strength in depth key to date

Cobh Ramblers will try and stretch their unbeaten run in the League of Ireland First Division to five games when they face Finn Harps on Friday at Ballybofey, 7.45pm.

Mick McDermott and his players will travel to Donegal with two wins and two draws recorded this season, and that leaves the team second in the table, two points from leaders Dundalk.

Last week was transformative for the group as they needed to win against a struggling Longford Town side at St Colman’s Park while sitting in fourth place.

Cobh were also out to bounce back from frustrating draws with Kerry FC and UCD, and everything came together in the form of a 5-0 victory.

The Ramblers sprinted into a 2-0 lead with Samuel Bellis scoring from close range and Waterford native Shane Griffin curling in a free-kick inside five minutes. A Barry Coffey brace either side of half-time extended their advantage before David Bosnjak rounded out the win.

Dundalk conceding twice to Treaty United at Oriel Park made it a perfect evening as Cobh jumped up to second place.

As pleasing as all of this is, McDermott knows that there’s still a bit to go before his team is a finished product.

“I thought we could have got a few more but it takes time to gel as I say,” the coach said.

“We signed 16 or 17 new players and even for us, we are not sure of our best XI yet. We’re finding our way. We changed our system tonight and it didn’t affect us in any way. 

Good players can play in different systems. It is how we play, in terms of getting the ball forward and the rotations that we do. 

"Thankfully, I have a group of intelligent players, good players, very coachable players that work hard every week.

POTENTIAL

“The recipe we got, there is potential there. That’s all it is at the minute and we’re working through these weeks to get our best formation and system. Eventually we will gel together and hopefully we’ll get more performances like that.” 

Cobh will try and keep the good times going against a Finn Harps side that is second from bottom with just one point collected this season.

That came from last Friday’s scored draw with UCD at Belfield, with Gavin Hodkins netting the equaliser at the start of the second half. That helped break a streak of results that saw defeats to Kerry FC and Treaty United on the road, and Dundalk on home soil.

This is a reality check for a group that pushed for the play-offs last term, only to fall short in the final few weeks of the year after failing to record a league win during their last five games.

The Ramblers were one team that did lose to Darren Murphy’s side during the run-in, and that effectively killed their chances of a top-five finish. Things are different this year, with Cobh out to leave no room for error.