Cobh Ramblers retain Munster Senior Cup for the first time in their history
Cobh manager Shane Keegan Credit: Michael P Ryan (ETPhotos)
Cobh Ramblers have retained the Munster Senior Cup for the first time in their history after a 3-1 victory over Cork City at Turner's Cross.
In a rematch of last year's final, Dale Holland, Jake Hegarty, and Adrian Thibaut all hit the back of the net and gave the east Cork side the county's bragging rights.
Tunde Olowabi did make it 2-1 midway through the second half but it was too little too late as the Rams hung on to further inflict misery on the struggling Rebel Army.
The result means that City have now lost three consecutive finals, a run that started with a 2-0 defeat to Rockmount in 2020.
The Ramblers have never been in this position before, and the win follows their 1-0 victory over City in 2022. James O'Leary converted a long range free-kick and that turned out to be the only goal of that game.
City played a team on Tuesday that had a mix of U19s and senior players like Olowabi and Ruairi Keating.
They were hoping to finish a job that saw them beat Castleview AFC and Waterford earlier in the season.
As for Cobh, they cruised through the competition by beating Everton AFC 8-1 and Treaty United 3-2 at the Markets Field.
The cup has traditionally been a good omen for The Rams. Their 2016 success was the start of a play-off push, and the team is now edging in on making it to post season for the first time since 2016.
Shane Keegan has been largely responsible for the resurrection of the team. Since his appointment Cobh have secured two Munster Senior Cups and a play-off push.
Cork City: Jimmy Corcoran; Samuel Bailey, John O'Donovan, Gordon Walker; Oran Crowe, Arran Healy (Ben Worman 58), Colin Henderson, Ciaran O'Sullivan (Rokas Stanulevicius 59); Josh Fitzpatrick (Jaden Umeh 81), Ruairi Keating (Jaze Kabia 57), Tunde Owolabi.
Subs not used: R Moloney, AJ Bowman, Alex Kelliher.
Booked: Jaze Kabia (81).
Cobh Ramblers: Darragh Burke; Cian Browne, Justin Eguaibor, Brendan Frahill, Charlie O'Brien (Tiernan O'Brien 65), Darragh O'Sullivan Connell (Michael McCarthy 88); Luke Desmond (Charlie Cummins 90), Dale Holland, Liam Kervick (Adrien Thibaut 22); Jake Hegarty, Mikie Rowe (Jason Abbott 78).
Subs not used: L Connolly, David Eguaibor.
Booked: Dale Holland (56), Luke Desmond (77).
Referee: Chris Sheehan.
About Dylan O'Connell
Dylan is a freelance journalist based in Cork. He joined Extratime in 2016 and he covers games all across Ireland. His bylines include The Echo, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, The 42, RTÉ Sport, and Irish … View Full Profile