Cobh Ramblers Under 19s have had a flying season under the guidance of Declan Coleman, sitting top of the Elite Southern Division. Their top goalscorer for the season is midfielder Dave Hurley and it's safe to say that he is enjoying his football r
Cobh Ramblers Under 19s have had a flying season under the guidance of Declan Coleman, sitting top of the Elite Southern Division. Their top goalscorer for the season is midfielder Dave Hurley and it's safe to say that he is enjoying his football right now. With one final league game at UCD on Sunday, last season's U19 Players' Player of the Year is brimming with excitement, "I'm delighted with how the season is going so far for us. At the beginning of the year we knew we had a good team but I don't think any of us thought we'd be in this position with one game left. We've already qualified for the play-offs and it would be nice to finish off on top," he said. If Cobh avoid a loss away to a strong second-placed UCD side, they will end the regular season in first. Hurley understandably has one eye on the play-offs though which will pit Ramblers off against a Northern Division side in the last-eight, "Being in this position now I don't see any reason why we can't go the whole way and win the overall league. We've already played top sides from both divisions and beaten them, so we're definitely good enough. It won't be easy but we have a great squad here and we have reason to believe in ourselves." The young midfielder made the step up to SSE Airtricity League football with Cobh only last summer joining from Ringmahon Rangers, the former club of Preston North End's Alan Browne as well as Ramblers senior player John Kavanagh. Prior to that he spent ten years at Tramore United and one season with Avondale. It was at Ringmahon he really first made a name for himself though, "I really enjoyed my time with Ringmahon. We had a great team there and quite a few of us moved up to the League of Ireland. There's lots of good people involved there and you can see that in the way they're progressing as a club." Turning back to his time at Ramblers, Hurley is evidently enjoying his time at the Great Island club, "It's been great so far. The standard is a big step up compared to playing in the local leagues. There's no easy games at this level and every team we play have top quality players. Travelling around the country for games is different but I'm used to it now and really looking forward to seeing how we finish." Cobh's U19 side have come on hugely since a mid-table finish last season. That year inconsistency cost the Rams but it hasn't been a problem in 2017. He feels that this is down to the added experience now in the squad, "Most of the squad this time out have been playing League of Ireland for more than a year, whereas last year the majority of the squad were only new to the League and it was difficult to adapt to the high standard. A lot of last year's u17s came up to us after a very good season and we've really pushed on in 2017. Dec Coleman and the coaches have all been great with us. All the lads work hard in training and now it's down to the final push." Hurley made his senior debut recently, coming off the bench in Cobh's 1-0 win away to Athlone and was over the moon to get the call-up, "I wasn't really expecting it to be honest. Throughout the season I was always hoping for a chance rather than expecting one so I was delighted when the chance actually came. As for the game, I was pleased enough with how it went. Obviously getting the win at the end made it so much better and it keeps us on Waterford's back." Cobh Ramblers travel to the UCD Bowl on September 17th to take on UCD in the final game of the regular Elite Southern Division Season. A win or a draw will leave Cobh occupy first place while the Students will go top with a victory of their own. By Thomas Stafford
