Ramblers realise the dream

NOT A bad time to open an account.

Seventy three minutes into the final 90 of the season, and with title rivals Finn Harps in cruise control down in Kilkenny, the unlikely figure of centre-half Kevin Murray popped up in a crowded Athlone Town penalty area, got a defender’s toe-poke to the ball and, on a nerve-jangling night, that close-range finish — scrappy and sublime all at once — was enough to send Cobh Ramblers into the Premier Division as First Division champions.

“Unbelievable,” said the goal hero afterwards, as the Cobh players battled their way to the dressing room through a throng of ecstatic travelling supporters. “I was disappointed I hadn’t got off the mark all year but no better time to do it then when it really mattered — last game of the season and nothing seemed to be going right for us on the night. We had to dig deep and I can’t praise the lads enough.”

Adding to the fairytale flavour of the victory was the fact Murray, a major injury doubt before the match, was only able to play with a heavily-strapped knee.

“I was very close to missing the game,” he confirmed. “I’ve only trained once in the last two weeks. But it wasn’t a match I was going to miss, even if I had to play it on one leg.”

That was the do-or-die spirit which summed up Cobh Ramblers on an occasion when, right at the end of a hugely-impressive season, last-night nerves — and a composed Athlone Town display — almost spoiled the southerners’ party.

Early on, Colin Fortune had rattled the Cobh bar with a header and ‘keeper James McCarthy had done well to keep out Eric Lavine, before the visitors almost self-destructed in a freak incident shortly before half-time, when defender Shane Guthrie’s header looped over his stranded goalkeeper and, almost in slow motion, bounced just over the top. “Somebody was looking down on us,” said Cobh manager Stephen Henderson who, before leaving Lissywoolen, made a point of congratulating the Athlone Town groundsman for the quality of the playing surface. A stickier goalmouth and that bouncing ball might never have cleared the bar.

But after what, by his own admission, had been a “hairy” first half, Henderson did what all good managers do — he used the half-time interval to inspirational effect.

Said Kevin Murray: “He got us in, settled us down and gave us a good chat. Made us realise that we were here for a reason and that we’re good enough. He made sure that we believed in ourselves.”

Henderson put it more bluntly.

“I just said: ‘Keep the bloody ball, will yiz, for God’s sake! The pitch is lovely for it. We’re a good footballing side, stop kicking the bloody thing up in the air. Get it down onto the ground.’ The most important thing was that we got Davin O’Neill more into the game in the second half. And once we started doing that, I felt we began to take control of it.”

One thing Henderson didn’tmention at the break was that Finn Harps were already three-up in Kilkenny — for the very good reason that he didn’t know. And nor did any of his players.

Taking it as read that Harps would win, all that mattered to Cobh was that they keep matters firmly in their own hands by winning the thing outright in Athlone. Which they duly did, with the result that they now have a Setanta Cup qualifier to play against Derry City and, more importantly, Premier Division football to look forward to next season.

“This is massive for the club, massive for the town,” said Kevin Murray. “Everybody talked about the Cobh ‘83 team that went on that cup run. Now, we’re after winning the league and we’re going to the Premier Division so hopefully they’ll be talking about the Cobh 2007 team from now on.”

For manager Henderson, the First Division title was just reward for the total commitment of his young squad.

“These kids had nowhere to train at the start of the season,” he said.

“They had no training equipment. Everything was going into the development of the ground. Not once did they moan. They just got down and worked extremely hard. I think it’s safe to say that it would only happen in Cork.

“I’m living down there seven years and they are a very unique breed of people. I love them. They work extremely hard, they have a desire to succeed that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I could safely say that if it was somewhere else in the country and there was lack of finance, a lack of facilities, other players would have given up. These lads didn’t.”

Now the boys from Cobh can enjoy the fruits of their labours, while Waterford, Finn Harps and Dundalk fight for the right to be alongside the Ramblers in the top flight next season.

Cork City have appointed Stephen Ryan as Club Promotions Officer.

ATHLONE TOWN: Kelly, Rossiter, McCarthy, Frawley, Hamm, Heffernan, Fortune, Hardy, Casey (McTiernan 80), Lavine (Sheridan 82), McGee (O’ Dowd 75).

COBH RAMBLERS: McCarthy, Carey, Murray, Guthrie, Meade, Mulconry, Barrett, Kearney, O’Neill, Cummins, O’Reilly (O’Shea 86).

Referee: C. Fitzgerald.