'Profile of players we bought matches with what Ramblers want to do' says manager Mick McDermott

Cobh Ramblers will not be lacking experience on the pitch when they kick-off the new campaign away to Treaty United on Friday night, nor will they be lacking experience in the dugout with former Glentoran boss McDermott

Cobh Ramblers head coach Mick McDermott is ready for the new season 

Cobh Ramblers may have finished third from bottom of the First Division in 2024 but make no mistake about it, they have their eyes firmly set on a push for promotion in 2025.

Cork City’s own promotion back to the top-flight has seemed to benefit their near neighbours also with First Division title winners' Cian Murphy, Cian Bargary, Cian Coleman, Barry Coffey, John O’Donovan and Jack Doherty all making the move across the Rebel County, along with coach Richie Holland, during the off-season.

They will be joined by Jonas Hakkinen, who won the second-tier title with City in 2022 and Shane Griffin, who has won the Premier Division with City in 2017 and more recently with Shelbourne.

So, Cobh Ramblers will not be lacking experience on the pitch when they kick-off the new campaign away to Treaty United on Friday night, nor will they be lacking experience in the dugout with former Glentoran boss Mick McDermott, who has also held key roles with national teams such as Colombia, Iran and Qatar, taking the reins.

“I’m happy to be here at Cobh, it’s an interesting project to be involved in with the plans from the board and the ownership group, it’s something that interested me from the word go. So here I am and let’s see what we can do,” began McDermott.

“I think for every team in this division that (promotion) is their ultimate goal, isn’t it?

New signing Jonas Hakkinen won the second tier title with Cork City in 2022 

“That’s why they get up out of bed every January and start pre-season. Everybody has aspirations to be in the Premier Division, that’s why it’s going to be a really competitive division this year, no doubt.

“I think we have recruited well with the profile of the boys that we have recruited in a short space of time.

“But to this point the profile of the players we’ve got, the age profile, the ability, where they are from and how they are matches with what the town wants, what the owner wants and what the people of Cobh want.

“They want a team that is going to go and play for them. So that’s my target when we recruited these boys and hopefully, we get to show that when the league starts.

“(Players) being from the county of Cork was important to me as well. I was aware of their backgrounds, which clubs they played for but it’s important in any environment like this to have a link to the county, the community and I think we have done well to get boys from here as well as adding a few from other areas with experience.

“Shane Griffin, for example, coming from Shelbourne, it’s nice to get a player of that calibre but also from Cork.

“So again, the profile of the players we brought matches what the club wants to do, where it wants to go and it matches with what I want to do and where I want to go which is we want to be competitive, we want to give the people something to cheer about. That’s it.”