Cobh Ramblers manager Stephen Henderson was delighted but cautious after watching his Cobh Ramblers side beat league leaders Shelbourne 2-1 on Friday evening at St. Colman’s Park. In a first half of few chances, Shelbourne struggled to settle into
Cobh Ramblers manager Stephen Henderson was delighted but cautious after watching his Cobh Ramblers side beat league leaders Shelbourne 2-1 on Friday evening at St. Colman’s Park. In a first half of few chances, Shelbourne struggled to settle into any rhythm due to the intensity and pressing of Henderson’s troops. Ramblers had the better openings of the half through Ian Turner and David Hurley but both efforts failed to really test keeper Delaney. The second half sprung to life in unfortunate circumstances for the Shels keeper when a simple pass back bobbled up forcing him to take an extra touch. In that time, Ramblers striker Jaze Kabia closed the gap and managed to get a toe to the ball leaving him the simple job of passing into an empty net. Shels struggled to respond and it was the home side who scored again in the 71st minute when Fernandes slid home after seeing his first attempt blocked on the line by Prendergast. Shels were awarded a penalty in the 85th minute that Ciaran Kilduff squeezed into the corner, but the visitors could not muster another opportunity and their misery was compounded when substitute Greg Moorhouse was sent off in added time for two yellow cards. Manager Henderson was quick to praise the effort of his team. “It was an outstanding performance and outstanding result. We talked a lot before the match about commitment and aggression. We needed to do our jobs as a team and try and get after Shels from the start. From the off, we pressed brilliantly even though the pitch didn’t help our cause much. Our organisation, aggression, hunger to win the ball back, our hunger to win headers, not taking chances on a poor pitch, all these factors came into play tonight. It is the best we have played this year.” “I thought the back four were excellent tonight. In terms of the balls coming down on top of us against the best striker in the division, we coped really well. We did the simples things effectively and our defence deserves credit. They were exceptional.” “We limited Shels all night. They struggled to open us up. It was our sheer determination and sheer aggression to get the ball back that proved the difference. Our decision making was excellent all night. I really enjoyed that game. I kicked and headed every ball with those players. We will savour this victory, but we have to go and do it again next week.” Henderson’s quest for consistency from his team remains a core focus in what has been a topsy-turvy start to the First Division season for all clubs. “The league is mad this year. It is going to be all about consistency. We have to do this every week. If you can work and press hard like we did tonight, you won’t lose many games. If you have that added bit of quality in your team there is a great chance you’ll win the game.” “We are just going to take it a match at a time. I said after we beat Wexford that it would kick start our campaign and then we went and lost to Limerick. We can’t afford to say we are going to do this or that. We are a young team so lets take it match by match.” “We are not getting ahead of ourselves. It was a great three points but with Bray losing to Wexford then there is a good chance they’ll be looking for a reaction, so we are going to have to deal with that."
