Concession of two early goals costs Cobh Ramblers in Longford 

Longford Town 2 

Cobh Ramblers 1 

Cobh Ramblers suffered a 2-1 defeat to Longford Town at Bishopsgate on their return from the midseason break on Saturday night.

The club were downed by early goals from Dean Williams and Pharrell Manuel, with Shane T. Griffin pulling one back late on.

This defeat has dropped Cobh to fourth in the table, and Fran Rockett and his players will look to bounce back this Friday against Finn Harps at St Colman’s Park.

The Ramblers will be looking to respond after going to Longford full of confidence after recording victories over Athlone Town, Kerry, and Treaty United in recent weeks.

Rockett did make changes with Shane T. Griffin making his first competitive start for the club since an FAI Cup game against Kerry at Mounthawk Park in August 2025.

The midfielder took the place of Dylan McGlade, while Mikey Carroll was in for Oran Crowe and partnered with Jason Abbott in front of the Cobh defence.

Just as this rejigged group settled, Alex O’Brien put in a low cross for Williams and the striker was able to stab it passed Timothy Martin with less than 90 seconds played.

Dean Murtagh set up the second by pressing high and wrestling in to take the ball from Abbott. 

The forward sent this to Williams, who squared to Manuel for a simple finish in the 18th minute.

Rockett immediately responded by replacing Abbott with Rhys Kelly Noonan, just as Cobh pushed up and started targeting the left flank. 

Luka Le Bervet thrived in those areas, with the full-back putting a number of threatening balls into the box, but nothing that tested the Longford defence.

The Ramblers reset at half-time by ripping up any pre-game plan, a move that meant the introduction of Cian Coleman for Rhys Brennan.

It took some time for Cobh to find some attacking rhythm, their issue was turning glimpses of momentum into sustained pressure and meaningful chances.

The left wing was some sort of outlet, but crosses meant for the box were easily swatted away by Osaze Irhue.

Rockett continued to roll the dice as he looked to get something going, with the next substitution involving Anthony Adenopo coming on for Lucas Curtin. 

The winger entered the pitch just as Rhys Gourdie went down with an injury, which led to the introduction of Kai O’Neill for the midfielder.

The striker marked his introduction by shielding the ball and drawing a foul from O’Brien in the 77th minute. 

A penalty was awarded and Shane T. Griffin sent Kian Moore the wrong way, pulling one back with time on the clock.

The question of an equaliser was raised as Le Bervet put crosses into the box and Adenopo found space on the left wing.

The home side remained compact, while heading away almost every ball put in by Cobh.

The closest they got to an equaliser was a Shane T. Griffin free-kick, and that went over the bar.

Longford saw out the rest of the game with ease and to secured a result that moves them up to fifth in the table.

Longford Town: Kian Moore; Pharrell Manuel, Osaze Irhue, Taylor McCarthy, Jamie Egan, Jake Hough; Sean Moore, Alex O'Brien, Andy Paraschiv; Dean Williams, Daragh Murtagh.

Subs: Stefan Ugbesia for Williams (81); Sultan Adenekan for Moore (81), Cole Omorehiomwan for Egan (81).

Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin; Luka Le Bervet, Brendan Frahill, Shane Griffin, Lucas Curtin; Mikey Carroll, Jason Abbott, Rhys Gourdie, Shane T. Griffin; Rhys Brennan, Wilson Waweru.

Subs: Rhys Kelly Noonan for Abbott (18); Cian Coleman for Brennan (HT), Anthony Adenopo for Curtin (68), Kai O’Neill for Gourdie (73).

Referee: Alan Patchell