Cobh Ramblers’ reign under new manager Shane Keegan begins on Friday night as Treaty United visit St Colman’s Park.
Treaty come into the game on the back of Monday night’s 5-0 defeat at home to Cork City. Ramblers’ last outing was also against Cork, losing 1-0 in Turners Cross last week under interim manager Ivan Bevan.
The Limerick outfit are the only team in the division that Ramblers are unbeaten against in 2022. The sides drew 0-0 at St Colman’s Park back in March before a 2-2 draw on Shannonside in May. The clubs have met five times since Treaty’s formation in 2021, with Ramblers yet to taste victory over the men in red and white.
Cobh will be without Darragh O’Sullivan O’Connell through suspension, while Dale Holland, Pierce Phillips and Beineón O’Brien Whitmarsh are also out through injury. Jason Abbott, James McCarthy, Danny O’Connell and Harlain Mbayo will be assessed closer to kick-off.
Ex-Ram Lee Devitt has quickly become a stalwart in the Treaty midfield and the Clare man will be well used to the St Colman’s Park surroundings. He is one of a number former Ramblers in Tommy Barrett’s squad, including captain Jack Lynch (below), Martin Coughlan and Stephen Christopher.
Rams boss Shane Keegan gave his thoughts ahead of the game against the club at which he recently held the role of Academy Lead,
“Cobh is a really good club with lots of great people involved. That’s only gone from strength to strength off-the-field in the last few years. If you asked League of Ireland diehards to name four or five clubs who were going about things in the right way, Cobh would be one of those at the top of that list.
There’s a cracking young squad here to work with. It’s a lot of new faces for me and I’m looking forward to it. I’m more concerned with where we are in twelve months time rather than how we look on Saturday morning.
Looking ahead to Friday t’s a nice one to head straight into. I obviously know Treaty well. The big plus is it’s a home game. I ask people to get down, take a look at us. If things go well for us over the next few years, you want to say that you were there on night one when it all started off.”
Kick-off on Friday in St Colman’s Park is at 19:45.
The game will be live on LOITV here.
