- Aisling Hannon
- Fri, Aug 04 2023
Wexford missed out on a chance to snatch all three points from Cobh Ramblers thanks to a last-minute Jack Doherty penalty, resulting in a 2-2 draw at St Colman’s Park on Friday.
First-half goals from Thomas Oluwa and Danny Furlong were cancelled out by a Tiernan O’Brien strike and a late spot-kick from Doherty.
The away side were sitting in fourth place in the table with moments to go, but thanks to the late penalty, followed by a last-minute equaliser for Athlone Town in Bray, James Keddy’s side must settle with remaining in fifth.
Cobh maintain their third-place position and had plenty of options in their squad, with one change being made following last week’s win over Longford as Charlie Lyons replaced Dean Larkin. A debut for Wexford-born Mikie Rowe too, with the forward signing on loan from Galway this week.
It was difficult to see where a goal was going to come from judging by the first fifteen minutes of play, where both teams held themselves back from producing any threat towards goal.
A burst of life came with twenty minutes on the clock when former Athlone Town striker Oluwa was given a large amount of space by the Cobh defence, allowing him to strike the ball past Lee Steacy in goal.
From there, Cobh didn’t panic, but Wexford looked like they had grown into the game and were playing with much better control over the ball and just ten minutes later, they doubled their lead thanks to their all-time top scorer Furlong.
The ball had initially been whipped into the box from a corner kick where Cian O’Malley met it and tried to poke it past Steacy, but the Cobh goalkeeper kept it out in what was a scramble around the danger area. It eventually fell to the feet of Furlong who calmly placed it from a short distance into the net.
Although Cobh may have looked a little flat, they soon provided a response to Wexford’s domination thanks to an O’Brien tap-in with ten minutes left of the half.
The ball had been passed into the box brilliantly by Rowe, who was pacey and sharp for the full ninety minutes, before meeting O’Brien on the far post, where he found himself completely alone to drive the ball into the open net.
Both teams came out a little more energetic in the second-half, despite the high winds and heavy rain.
Wilson Waweru drifted a cross in from the right for Cobh but it was well defended, while Wexford bounced the ball off the bar following a scramble in the box from a corner kick.
Oluwa looked the most dangerous on the pitch with two rapid runs towards goal, but the Cobh defenders were alert and did well to block.
With twenty minutes left to play, there were shouts for a penalty when Rowe was fouled in the box, but the referee waved away any appeals, and despite several substitutions for both sides, it looked as though no more could be done to add to the score-line.
This changed, however, in the second minute of injury time at the end of the half when James Crawford produced a foul on Rowe on the edge of the area, prompting the referee to point to the spot.
It was former Wexford midfielder Doherty who stepped up and slotted the ball neatly past Owen Mason to make it 2-2, giving the teams a point each in what is turning out to be a very heated battle for a promotion place.
The travelling side will be unhappy with giving up a two-goal lead, and there will be fears for skipper Ethan Boyle who was taken off in the second-half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Wexford will meet Waterford in the South East derby at Ferrycarrig this Bank Holiday Monday, while Cobh travel to Mounthawk Park to face bottom side Kerry.
Cobh Ramblers: Lee Steacy; Cian Browne, Justin Eguaibor, Brendan Frahill, Charlie Lyons; Dale Holland (Jack Doherty 70), Tiernan O'Brien (Luke Casey 87), Pierce Phillips; Jason Abbott (Luke Desmond 87), Mikie Rowe, Wilson Waweru.
Subs not used: Darragh Burke, Michael McCarthy, Dean Larkin, Alec Byrne, Liam Kervick, Matthew McKevitt.
Booked: Mikie Rowe (11), Brendan Frahill (44).
Wexford: Owen Mason; Ethan Boyle (Eoin Kenny 79), Luke Browne, Darragh Levingston (Brandon McCann 46), Reece Webb; James Crawford, Luka Lovic, Cian O'Malley, Corban Piper; Danny Furlong (Karl Chambers 70), Thomas Oluwa (Max Kelly 85).
Subs not used: Noel Heffernan, Ben Lynch, Sean Fitzpatrick, Mark Hanratty, Aaron Doran.
Referee: Marc Lynch
Attendance: TBC.
extratime.com Player of the Match: Mikie Rowe (Cobh Ramblers)
