FAI Cup Preview: UCD -v- Cobh Ramblers
Evan Osam in action for UCD Credit: Matthew Lysaght (ETPhotos)
UCD
UCD will be looking to get some badly needed respite from the pressure of league football when they host Cobh Ramblers in the first round of the FAI Cup at the Belfield Bowl on Friday night.
Automatic relegation to the First Division is almost a forgone conclusion at this stage as they are 14 points behind ninth place Cork City with 12 games left to play before the season concludes in the autumn.
The Students have only two wins to their credit all season and will seek to salvage something from the season with a decent cup run, starting with the clash against the First Division outfit this weekend.
Their confidence will certainly be low when they take the field on Friday night as they have only picked up one win and no draw in their last ten games, and have conceded 19 goals in their last five games.
Their lowest ebb was probably the 7-0 thrashing by St Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park at the end of June, and they followed this with the concession of another seven goals in their next two matches. They lost 4-0 to Shelbourne and 3-1 to Drogheda Utd, both games at home in Belfield.
COBH RAMBLERS
Cobh Ramblers are having an excellent season in the First Division and are very much on track to secure one of the promotion play-off spots at the end of the season.
They currently sit on 36 points in third position and while they wont catch either Galway or Waterford, they will be happy to remain in third place and fend of the challenges of Athlone Town, Bray Wanderers and Wexford for those coveted play off places.
They were unbeaten in five games up to last weekend’s 4-3 reverse away at Finn Harps, with four wins and a draw to their credit.
During that run, they held Galway United to a 1-1 draw at home and beat Waterford 1-0 away, so they will not fear a side who are struggling at the base of the Premier Division when they arrive in Belfield on Friday night.
Referee: Declan Toland
MATCH STATS
UCD do have one FAI Cup victory to their credit, lifting the trophy for the only time in the 1984 season.
They certainly dispelled the myth that’’ you can’t win anything with kids’ when they became the first University club in Europe to reach a domestic cup final, win it and then compete in a European competition.
They drew 0-0 with Shamrock Rovers but then proceeded to beat them 2-1 in the replay at Tolka Park. Joe Hanrahan beat Rover’s goalkeeper Jody Byrne in the 40th minute for the first goal and Ken O’ Doherty prodded home a Keith Dignam free kick in the sixth minute of injury time to seal the win.
In last year’s FAI Cup, UCD beat Cockhill Celtic 3-0 and Galway Utd 3-2 before going out at the quarter final stage in a 4-1 loss to Treaty Utd.
Cobh Ramblers have never reached an FAI CUP final let alone win it, although they were involved in an epic semi-final duel with Sligo Rovers in 1983.
The two sides could not be separated over three matches and it was only in the fourth match that Rovers emerged victorious when they beat Ramblers 3-2 at the Showgrounds (Sligo then went on to beat Bohemians in the final by 2-1)
A remarkable 90,794 spectators watched the four-game drama, with almost 30,000 packing into Flower Lodge (now Cork GAA’s Pairc Ui Rinn) for the first encounter, a 1-1 draw.
The Ramblers did not get past the first round of last year’s competition, being beaten by Cork City 1-0 at home in St Colman’s Park.
BETTING
UCD 1/1; Draw 13/5; Cobh Ramblers 23/10
PREDICTION
UCD 1 - 2 Cobh Ramblers
UCD
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Cobh Ramblers
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
