Preview: Cobh Ramblers vs Cork City

They will come by bus, train, car and Ferry, and they will fill St. Coleman’s Park. For tonight after an absence of over 12 years Cork City bring their rebel army to Cobh to take on the local Ramblers in league action, in what has been the early season focal point for both sets of fans.

The sense of anticipation is palpable around Leeside as the county’s two senior clubs lock horns in the league for the first time since 1995.

If it were possible, the early season form of both sides has made this clash even more important than many thought when the fixtures were announced by the FAI. But as it stands both sides go in search of their first league win of the season.

One could forgive Cobh for not grabbing that first win yet as the newly promoted side. But that will be cold comfort for Stephen Henderson and his team. Cobh have played some excellent football at times in all three of their league games. An encouraging start in Ballybofey on opening night against Finn Harps yielded high expectations of a home win against Galway United, however despite dominating the game and playing some excellent football, the tribesmen came away with a point. What followed last week was a harsh lesson in top flight football for the Cobh defence and especially their keeper Stephen McCarthy – hopefully the errors that saw the Ramblers’ lose 3-0 to Drogheda last week will not be repeated for the sake of a good competitive encounter.

If Cobh do manage to keep things a little tighter at the back, they will prove more than a match for their more illustrious neighbours from the City. For their part City have had a very frustrating opening to their season, and have perhaps struggled slightly to mould the talented parts of their squad into a team that can challenge for the title. Cork have had a desperately disappointing run of four drawn games and while they have been a little frugal in front of goal despite an embarrassment of attacking riches – it has to be said that City have never really looked like losing any game so far which will be a great encouragement to Alan Matthews and his rebel army, such stability is the bedrock of any championship challenging side.

Matthews has an almost fully fit squad to choose from for tonight’s clash, with only long term injury Billy Woods not available for selection. One wonders if Matthews will tinker slightly with the starting line-up as he looks for that elusive league win. Stephen Henderson rested most of his starting XI for the midweek league cup defeat to Wexford youths which probably indicates minimal changes from the team that took the field in the Ramblers’ first 3 league games.

Whatever the teams or the outcome – it is sure to be a momentous occasion with a terrific atmosphere to boot, get there early if you are lucky enough to have a ticket – kick off is at 7.45.