Longford Town take on Cobh Ramblers in tough task at St Colman's Park

Longford Town face a long journey on Friday when they travel to St Colman's Park to play one of this season's form teams Cobh Ramblers, kick-off 7.45pm.  

After three games played they are unbeaten and in fourth position in the First Division. To date they have 5 points from a win and two draws. 

In the first week of the season Cobh were away to Treaty United and they went home with three points from a 3-2 victory. 

After 80 minutes they were two down but a tremendous late rally clinched a memorable win. Cian Coleman opened the scoring for Cobh  in the 83rd minute and David Bosnjak got the equaliser  in the 90th minute. Three minutes into injury time Cian Murphy sealed all three points for Cobh in a late, late show that gave new manager Mick McDermott a great start to the chase for promotion. 

The new manager has assembled a very strong squad which is backboned with many former Cork City players making it a very competitive team which will be hoping for at least a place in the play-offs at the end of the season. 

The arrival of former Cork player Shane Griffin is a huge boost. Of the team that started in the away game against UCD on Friday night last there were at least seven former Cork City players.

 Griffin, Barry Coffey, Cian Murphy, Dale Holland, Cian Coleman, John O'Donovan and Jonas Hakkinen all played previously for Cork and some of the subs on Friday also played for Cork. 

Cobh are a sleeping giant down Cork way and they showed how they have improved this season with a creditable 1-1 draw against UCD last weekend.

In their other game to date they drew 0-0 at home to fast improving Kerry. Former Town favourite Jack Doherty signed for the club this season but unfortunately picked up an achilles injury in preseason.

The honours were shared last season between the clubs as it was one win each and two draws in the four games played. 

The first meeting between the clubs in early April in Cobh ended 1-1. Bosnjak scored for Cobh and the Town's goal was an OG from C O'Brien. 

The second meeting between the clubs in Bishopsgate ended scoreless.

 The next meeting in Cobh early in August ended 1-0 to Cobh with J Larkin scoring the all important goal in the 69th minute. 

The final meeting between the clubs in early October ended 2-0 to the Town in Bishopsgate. Jordan Adeyemo and Shane Elworthy scored the goals. 

Longford picked up their first point on Saturday night last at Bishopsgate in the 1-1 draw against near neighbours Athlone in front of a good crowd. 

By all accounts the current Athlone team are full time which is a bit of a luxury in the First Division. Most of the Athlone team are based in Athlone and they train during the day which is a huge boost for their manager Dario Castelo while the Town's squad are all working full time which puts them at a disadvantage.

 New signing Ben Feeney gave the visitors the lead after 30 minutes but Aaron Doran equalised for the Town seven minutes later. 

Despite being in control for long periods the Town couldn't get the all important second goal as former Waterford FC keeper Matthew Connor was in outstanding form making at least three top class saves in the second half. 

I suppose a draw could be a fair result for both teams who have players out injured. The Town are still without Jamie Egan and Aaron Walsh both of whom are still trying to get back in training. 

Athlone were missing two former Town players Bastien Hery and Adam Wixted along with other recent signings Declan McDaid and Oisin Duffy so they will be hoping to get all players back as will the Town manager Wayne Groves. 

One has to say that there was a marked improvement in Longford’s display on Saturday compared with the performance against Bray two weeks previously. 

The Town defence played very well with the exception of when Athlone took the lead. Yoro and Spain did very well in the centre while team captain Dean O'Shea was a great leader on the pitch.

Daniel Norris improves with every appearance and we expect some good goals from him this season. Emre Topcu is a very hard worker in midfield and goalscorer Aaron Doran is relishing a good run in the team. Daragh Murtagh gives 100% in every game and is a threat for opposing defenders. Manager Groves has a strong bench to pick from also and everyone he introduced gave the Athlone squad a real test. 

Harry Halwax made a few fine saves during the game and we expect him to be very busy on Friday night in St Colman's Park. 

The Town can go down to Cobh and come away with a good result but it will take a valiant performance against this very experienced Ramblers side.

Looking at the results since the commencement of the league three weeks ago one can see that there will be no easy games and we hope that Longford Town become a hard to beat team this season.