Cobh Ramblers fall to defeat away to Wexford
Wexford's Mikie Rowe scoring against Cobh on Friday night. Picture: Patrick Browne
Cobh Ramblers' unbeaten run came to an end with this defeat to Wexford at Ferrycarrig Park.
The home side took the lead in just the eighth minute through Mikie Rowe, and the loss was confirmed once Gavin Hodgins nit the back of the net in the 77th minute.
The result snapped a streak that saw victories over Kerry, Treaty United, and Finn Harps, as well as a scoreless draw with Longford Town at St Colman’s Park. This encounter was billed as a revenge mission after the loss on home soil last February, but nothing came together.
A rotated team from the stalemate with Longford was selected by Fran Rockett with Shane Griffin, Jason Abbott, and Wilson Waweru in for Garry Buckley, Mikey Carroll, and Rhys Kelly Noonan. The 4-2-3-1 formation was retained with Rhys Brennan up top and Rhys Gourdie playing in the pocket, and Dylan McGlade on the left.
A big night was promised, and it was brought to a shuddering halt once Max Murphy launch the ball into the area for Rowe header.
The Ramblers tried passing their way into space in response, but room to move was in short supply as the home side held their own defensively.
They did win a free-kick in the 36th minute and Jason Abbott managed to get the ball to the back post. Ryan Richie came out to deal with this, as Wexford cleared their clines once again.
It was 1-0 at the break and the game restarted with Rowe trying his luck and stinging the palms of Timothy Martin. The goalkeeper then had to come out to get to a Jake Doyle header from a Murphy corner in the 50th minute as the home side continued their push for a second goal.
From that point, it turned into a battle for possession in the middle of the park with very little control by either team. Griffin even came forward on one occasion to boost numbers in the battle, only to see a challenge by the halfway line end in a yellow card and a free-kick over a foul on Jamie Wynne.
The Ramblers actually managed to break from the set-piece, and a promising move driven by Gourdie. Waweru went down at the end of this, by a challenge from Richie, and a free-kick taken by Gourdie came to nothing in the 56th minute.
Wexford went on to counter-attack on the hour mark, and this move ended with a tame effort by Hodgins rolling straight into the hands of Paul Martin.
Rockett made a triple change in a bid to change things around with Carroll, Rhys Kelly Noonan, and Luka Le Bervet on for Abbott, McGlade, Lucas Curtin in the 69th minute.
Waweru went down inside the area during their push for an equaliser, but there was no penalty.
Instead, there was a blistering right-legged Richie strike that sealed the three points.
Cobh tried late on, they just never really got in to test Paul Martin while Doyle hit the crossbar for Wexford in the dying minutes.
Paul Martin; Max Murphy, Robbie McCourt, Dylan Hand, Evan Osman; Zayd Abada, Ryan Ritchie, Jamie Wynne; Mikie Rowe, Jake Doyle, Gavin Hodgins.
Ryan Butler for Osman (HT); Jack Larkin for Richie (65), Liam Doyle for Hodgins (81).
Timothy Martin; Callum Honohan, Breandán Frahill, Shane Griffin, Lucas Curtin; Jason Abbott, Oran Crowe; Wilson Waweru, Rhys Gourdie, Dylan McGlade, Rhys Brennan.
Mikey Carroll for Abbott (69); Rhys Kelly Noonan for McGlade (69), Luka Le Bervet for Curtin (69), Anthony Adenopo for Brennan (79).
Ryan Maher
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