Ramblers’ final home game of 2022 takes place on Friday night, with fourth place Longford Town visiting St Colman’s Park.
The sides have met three times already this year with the Midlands outfit winning by two goals on each occasion. Long-assured of a play-off spot, Gary Cronin’s men are without a win in four having most recently gone down 2-1 at home to Waterford on Monday evening.
Either Waterford or Galway will be Longford’s likely opponents in the play-offs, and it’ll be a tough test regardless for the Leinster men.
For Ramblers Friday night’s tie sees nothing at stake but pride. A win may not be enough to stay off the foot of the First Division table given Athlone’s resurgence and Cobh supporters can be forgiven for already looking ahead to season 101 in 2023. On a bright note the club’s U19s will receive their national league trophy at half-time on the night.
Harlain Mbayo, Pierce Phillips, Conor Drinan and Michael McCarthy are doubts ahead of the game, with goalkeeper Sean Barron still out through injury.
Manager Shane Keegan gave his views earlier in the week ahead of the club’s final home outing,
“We want to give the supporters something high to finish on. Those who’ve come out every week deserve a serious pat on the back. Heading into an off-season we have to try our best to finish with positivity. It’ll make my life and the club’s life easier in the off-season if we finish on that high.
There’s a lot of quality in this dressing room. More importantly there are a lot of really good people there. The training sessions are still of a really high standard, even with the season winding down and little to play for.
Longford are a very good side. I watched their last two games. They’re guaranteed play-offs and they’re being cute on who they play and how many minutes they give out. They play some lovely football and have a lot of depth in the squad.“
Kick-off in St Colman’s Park is at 19:45, with the game being streamed live on LOITV here.
Club activities don’t conclude with this game however, with the Legends match on November 5th followed by the much-anticipated club dinner dance on November 25th.
