Cobh Ramblers fall to third loss in a row away to Athlone Town

Athlone Town 2 Cobh Ramblers 0 

Cobh Ramblers are now three games without a win following a defeat to Athlone Town in Lissywollen.

The club were downed by goals from Cillian Tollett and Peter Grogan, and this is their third loss in succession after recent results against UCD and Cork City.

Fran Rockett and his player have dropped to fifth with this defeat, following Longford Town's late comeback win over the Rebel Army at the Munster FA Turner's Cross Stadium.

The Ramblers will regroup over the next week, as they prepare to face Waterford at the RSC in the FAI Cup.

The Athlone game was billed as a winnable tie for Cobh as the Midlanders went into the game without a win in ten games, a sequence that led to the departure of manager Ian Ryan earlier in the week.

Rockett looked internally and named a much-changed team to the one that went down to Cork City last time out at St. Colman’s Park.

Ronan Mansfield was the most striking addition, with the defender making his debut just days after signing on loan from Waterford. Mikey Carroll, Anthony Adenopo, and Wilson Waweru were also in as part of a quartet that replaced Cian Coleman, Garry Buckley, Oran Crowe, and Kai O’Neill.

It took just nine minutes for the new group to fall behind, through a Tollett header from a deep cross from the right wing.

Cobh struggled to muster a response, something that would manifest in small moments of frustration as the game progressed.

One was in the 34th minute as Waweru worked to create something with Rhys Gourdie on the counter with Rhys Brennan running in support on the right wing. It was promising and too good to be true as the striker drifted offside as he received the pass from midfield, and the flag went up.

Another was a quick free-kick in the 41st minute that was easily swatted away as Waweru tried to get to the ball on the edge of the area.

There was no reprieve at the break as the second half opened up with a neat ball over the top and Gradi Lomboto muscling past Luka Le Bervet before shooting narrowly wide in the 51st minute.

Cobh were on the ropes, and unable to land a jab while their opponent seemed to land punch after punch.

The knock-out blow was irrelevant at this point, as Athlone looked content to keep procession and set the tempo.

They were a team clearly enjoying themselves after weeks in the doldrums, looking for a sign of life as losses built up and the club dropped down the table.

Eventually they got in to score a second, following an effort by Patrick Ferry that Timothy Martin came out to get to. The goalkeeper’s save knocked the ball on for Grogan, who was able to hit in to rubberstamp the win for Athlone in the 84th minute with a header.

ATHLONE: Brendan Clarke; Cillian Tollett, Evan O’Connor, Jonathan Kehir, Kyle O’Connor, Brian McManus; James Crawford, Aaron Connolly; Gradi Lomboto, Peter Grogan, Patrick Ferry.

Subs: William Smith for Tollett (75), Joshua Farnham for Ferry (90).

COBH: Timothy Martin; Luka Le Bervet, Breandán Frahill, Shane Griffin, Ronan Mansfield; Mikey Carroll, Shane T. Griffin; Rhys Brennan, Rhys Gourdie, Anthony Adenopo, Wilson Waweru.

Subs: Rhys Kelly Noonan for Adenopo (65); Lucas Curtin for Shane T. Griffin (84), Ethan O’Donovan for Carroll (84), Brian Lenihan for Mansfield (86).

Referee: Eric Eaton