Davin O’Neill scored an incredible 84th minute winner as Cobh Ramblers produced an amazing comeback to beat Longford Town 4-3 at St.Colman’s Park.
League leaders’ Longford were three up and cruising after half an hour through headers from Josh O’Hanlon and Rhys Gorman and a neat finish by David O’Sullivan.
Ramblers were given a glimmer of hope at the end of the first-half when Martin Deady calmly sent the Longford keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot after Noel Haverty was sent off for tugging back Davin O’Neill in the box.
The home side struggled to break down the ten-man Midlanders in the second half but the introduction of Bobbi Donoghue with half an hour remaining breathed new life into Cobh and they were awarded a second penalty in the 78th minute when Donoghue was brought down just inside the box.
Deady showed nerves of steel to dispatch his second penalty and the home fans were all set for a grandstand finish, and what a finish it was.
The equaliser duly arrived in the 82nd minute when O’Neill did well to feed Donoghue on the wing and his fist time cross was powerfully headed home by Roy Kenny.
And the winner arrived just two minutes later when O’Neill controlled the ball 35 yards from goal, swivelled and fired an unstoppable volley past the helpless Chris Bennion and into the top right corner to send the crowd wild and move Ramblers to within two points of Finn Harps.
Attendance:355
Team Line-Ups:
Cobh Ramblers: Shane Hallahan, Adam Thompson(Graham McCarthy, 61), John Meade(C), Craig Burns, Brian Fitzgerald(Brendán Frahill, 11), Andrew Bhandarkar, Martin Deady, Roy Kenny, Davin O’Neill, Kynan Rocks, Alan O’Flynn(Bobbi Donoghue,61)
Unused Substitutes: Shane Barrett, Daniel Santry, Ronan Stanton, Robert Birdsall
Longford Town: Chris Bennion, Noel Haverty, William McDonagh, Corie Treacy(C), Glenn O’Connor, David O’Neill, Rhys Gorman, Keith Gillespie (Gavin Doyle, 82), Derek O’Brien, Gary Shaw(Josh O’Hanlon 4), David O’Sullivan
Unused Substitutes: Paul Hunt, Chris Deans, Brian McCarthy, Dean Ebbe, Daniel Purdy
Referee: Anthony Buttimer
Report by Sean Geary
