Cobh Ramblers demolish Wexford to keep the pressure on Dundalk at the top
Wexford defender Cian Browne blocks a shot from Cobh's Barry Coffey. Pic: David Creedon.
Cobh Ramblers made it back-to-back wins over the Bank Holiday weekend as they demolished Wexford at St Colman’s Park on Monday evening.
Shane Griffin, Cian Coleman, and Cian Murphy were all on target during the first half with a James Crawford own goal rounding off the win after the break to keep Cobh second in the table, six points behind leaders Dundalk.
The Ramblers went into the game looking to build on Friday’s 3-1 victory over Longford Town on home soil against a side that came from behind to take all three points from their meeting with Finn Harps last week at Ferrycarrig Park.
Wexford also possess Mike Rowe in their ranks, the league’s joint top scorer with 17 goals tallied so far this season.
Mick McDermott reacted by turning his 4-2-3-1 formation to 5-4-1 in a bid to combat the visitors’ wing-back system.
The Ramblers adapted seamlessly, with Cian Bargary running the show on the right.
The winger started his evening by stinging the palms of Paul Martin in the third minute and he followed up with a deep cross that landed on the roof of the net.
Murphy kept the drive alive by passing to an onrushing Shane Griffin and the midfielder sent his effort just over the bar.
Wexford, by comparison, only created one real opening from a Rowe cross and Niall O’Keeffe easily knocked that away.
Cobh were just relentless, and with that came a long period in possession after the 20th minute mark. Shane Griffin turned the dial with a neat pass to Bargary, who was able to tee-up Barry Coffey for a low shot on the penalty spot that was scrambled away by Wexford.
The visitors then broke and Aaron Dobbs forced Timothy Martin into a stretched saved with a driven attempt, and the resulting corner came to nothing.
The Ramblers went back to what they had been doing from kick-off and with that came the opening goal, scored by Shane Griffin at the far post from a Bargary cross in the 27th minute.
A second followed, this time it was Coleman finding the target off an in-swinging corner in the 33rd minute.
The scorer turned creator for the third by flicking the ball on for Murphy to fire in at close range in the dying seconds of the first half.
McDermott reacted to this lead by reverting to a back four at the break by replacing Luka Le Bervet and Jonas Hakkinen with John O’Donovan and Iestyn Hughes.
The Wales Under-21 international immediately got stuck in by bursting down the right flank and seeing a low shot stopped by the Wexford defence.
The Ramblers got their fourth in the 75th minute after Crawford turned the ball in at the Liam McMahon Stand during another attacking flurry by the home side.
Murphy tried to get one more in injury time and he won a corner that was awkwardly punched away by Paul Martin as a swarm of claret and blue jerseys went for the ball.
Wexford were desperate to pull one back late on, and the best they could do was Rowe hitting the cross bar.
Timothy Martin; Luka Le Bervet (John O’Donovan 52), Shane Griffin, Cian Coleman, Jonas Hakkinen (Iestyn Hughes HT), Niall O’Keeffe, Harvey Cribb, Shane Griffin (Dylan McGlade 52), Barry Coffey (Jason Abbott 74), Cian Bargary (Samuel Bellis 52), Cian Murphy.
Paul Martin; Cian Browne (James Crawford HT), Matthew O’Brien (Darragh Levingston 60), Robert McCourt (Patrick Manning 76), Ajibola Oluwabiyi, Ben McCormack, Dean Larkin, Zayd Abada (Michael McCarthy HT), Aaron Dobbs (Kaylem Hartnett HT), Muhammad Haris, Mikie Rowe.
Declan Toland.
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