Ruairí Keating's wonder goal fires Cork City to first derby success of the season at Cobh Ramblers
Ruairi Keating, Cork City FC, celebrates his early first-half goal at St Colman's Park. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Ruairí Keating was the difference as Cork City defeated Cobh Ramblers by the bare minimum at St Colman’s Park.
While an early strike was the difference, this was a routine victory for Barry Robson and his players despite the home side fighting until the final few seconds for an equaliser.
The most important thing for City is the win, as it their first victory over Cobh in two years after losing to their near rivals last year in the Munster Senior Cup and picking up just four points in this fixture this season.
The Ramblers are stung by comparison, as Fran Rockett’s side picked up their third loss in four games, but remain fourth in the table with their cause helped by Wexford’s defeat to Finn Harps and Kerry going down 2-1 at Treaty United.
The Rebel Army inflicted this one, against a team that earned their first league win in the derby earlier in the summer at the Munster FA Turner’s Cross Stadium.
City started fast and their reward was a sixth-minute goal from a long Niall O’Keeffe pass that Keating picked up and used to lob Timothy Martin at the Liam McMahon Stand.
City continued to attack, which forced Cobh to take a step back in defence in a congested 4-2-3-1 formation that had Cian Coleman marshalling the back four.
The defender was forced off with an injury in just the 16th minute, to be replaced by Anthony Adenopo with Garry Buckley moving into defence to partner with Breandán Frahill.
The rejigged unit held firm, as efforts from Hans Mpongo and Cillian Murphy failed to get past Timothy Martin as time went on.
Cobh did get forward on occasion with Luka Le Bervet and Adenopo running down the right wing, but neither was able to create something that really tested City.
They failed to land a punch in a half that closed out with a brace of opportunities for Mpongo, and on each occasion the forward was left frustrated as one shot went wide and the other was routinely saved by Martin.
Cobh regrouped at the break, before launching a fresh attack on the restart that included a Shane T. Griffin free-kick getting flicked wide by Kai O’Neill in addition to Rhys Gourdie and Rhys Brennan having shots blocked down on the edge of the area.
The trio followed that up with a move that ended with Adenopo hitting the side netting, a rushed finish as Donal O’Connor and Fiacre Kelleher were quick to close down at the back post.
This was at a point when Cobh had the majority of possession, but struggled to turn it into meaningful chances in the final third.
The Ramblers went further into their bench by bringing on Wilson Waweru for Gourdie and Rhys Kelly Noonan for O’Neill, as the push for an equaliser went into the final minutes of play.
City brought on Matthew Murray in comparison, who ran at the Cobh defence and helped create space for others to run into.
This almost led to a second goal on the counter-attack in injury time, but Murphy was unable to turn a decent run into a shot on target.
The striker almost scored on the counter at this stage of the game, only to see his shot blocked down by Frahill.
It finished as a comfortable win for City, who are 18 points clear at the summit with just two defeats incurred.
This was one of the sweetest nights, at the home of their near rivals.
Timothy Martin; Luka Le Bervet, Cian Coleman, Breandán Frahill, Shane Griffin; Garry Buckley, Oran Crowe, Rhys Brennan, Rhys Gourdie, Shane T. Griffin, Kai O’Neill.
Anthony Adenopo for Coleman (16); Mikey Carroll for Crowe (56), Wilson Waweru for Gourdie (71), Rhys Kelly Noonan for O’Neill (71).
Conor Brann; Niall O’Keeffe, Donal O’Connor, Fiacre Kelleher, Conor Drinan; Josh Fitzpatrick, Greg Bolger, Darragh Crowley; Hans Mpongo, Cillian Murphy, Ruairí Keating.
Matthew Murray for Mpongo (86).
Daryl Carolan
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