Birdsall ready to spread his wings with Cobh

On the afternoon Cobh Ramblers’ return to the League of Ireland was confirmed, manager Dave Hill kept repeating the same word.

Consolidation, consolidation, consolidation.

That’s what their first season back in the league would be about.  It was continually stated that they would not make the same mistakes which saw them drop out of the league for four years.

The financial tight rein would, inevitably, come at a price on the pitch. There wasn’t going to be money available for players and that, naturally, meant expectations weren’t going to be set too high.

The plan, initially, was that the core of the squad would come from the club’s U19 panel, with a couple of Munster Senior League players added in to the mixture.

Something since the granting of their licence for 2013 on January 24 has changed though, because in the middle of last week 10 new signings were announced. And it’s important to stress that these faces are by no means sub-standard footballers. Far from it.

Davin O’Neill was the big name acquisition but it was the last player on the list that produced most intrigue.

Robert Birdsall is a name familiar to those who followed Cork City’s underage teams closely a few years back.

But now, via spells at Bradford City and Blyth Spartans in the UK, the U21 capped goalkeeper is back on Irish soil with a career heading in a direction few would have believed a short few weeks ago.

There were, without sounding unkind to Ramblers, more attractive offers on the table for Birdsall, who a few years back garnered interest from Liverpool amongst others.

Back living at the family home in Tralee in recent weeks, there was the promise of a place in Premier Division squads at Bohemians and Bray Wanderers, so what made him choose Ramblers over, again no disrespect to Cobh, bigger clubs?

 “I didn’t fancy the travel,” the 21 year-old says.  “I was up with Bohemians and it was killing me going up and down. It was too far. I was meant to go to Bray with Pat Devlin too but decided against it. I was going to be at home in Tralee and it was too much hassle going up and down, so Cobh was my best option.

“I got in touch with Conor Meade (another one of the 10 signings) and things went from there.  I’ve family in Rochestown so I’ll spend some nights in Cork.”

As for O’Neill, it’s fair to say Birdsall has been impressed by the 29-year-old striker in training.

“He’s top class,” is the emphatic answer. “A massive signing. But we also have Conor and John Meade, Brian Fitz, who is one of the best centre-halves around in my own opinion.

“With the six or seven experienced lads we have brought in, I think we will do very well. I don’t even think Dave expected the likes of Davin and the Meades to sign.”

Birdsall, of course, is another addition to the rapidly expanding Tralee Dynamos connection with the League of Ireland. The Kerry side had been touted as a possible addition to the league in recent years, but with that dream never getting off the ground, there’s a burgeoning collection of former players now plying their trade with clubs across the league.

 “There’s a few players around Cork who I’ve been friends with for years,” the 21 year-old, who stands at an imposing 6ft2 adds, before listing the names off.

“Paul White is at Cork City and of course Darren Dennehy is now playing with them too. Everybody knows about Billy, Darren’s brother, and then there’s Shane Guthrie who was with Limerick but now without a club.”

Derek O’Brien, the man who delivered the ball on a plate for Graham Cummins to score City’s late, late title winner against Shelbourne in 2011, is another member of the Dynamos alumni, while a few others have had an involvement with City’s underage sides.

Speaking of City, even though he won two young goalkeeper of the year awards when playing in the now defunct A Championship, few will have remembered Birdsall. Promisingly for Ramblers, he claims the boy who stood between the posts between 2008 and 2010 has now become a man.

“I was only a kid playing with Cork. The year coming up to the move to England, that’s when I started taking it seriously and I’ve learned so much since then. I think I’m at the best level I’ve been at now, I’ve come on a lot since that time at Cork.”

Typically, 21 is still a novice age for a goalkeeper but with plenty of experience already behind him, Hill and Ramblers will be hoping Birdsall’s capture can be one to propel them past the moderate expectations placed upon the harboursiders.