Munster derby preview – Ramblers v Limerick

A huge Munster derby is among the pick of the ties in this weekend’s Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup First round.

Cobh Ramblers host old rivals Limerick FC at St Colman’s Park, with Ramblers looking to take their excellent form in the first division into the cup.

Stephen Henderson’s side go into the game on the back of the 2-0 win over Longford Town last weekend, and the gaffer is raring to go this week.

“I can’t wait for it. Limerick are a very good side, and it’s a Munster derby. We’re expecting a very good crowd. I love the FAI Cup. I love everything about it. We got to the quarter finals last year. I think we can give Limerick a game. When we play well we can give anyone a game.

“We’re just going to go out and enjoy ourselves, and let the players express themselves like they did against Longford.”

Henderson along with his assistant Stuart Ashton recently signed new three year deals to stay at St Colman’s Park until 2020. And Henderson says it was an incredibly simple decision to make.

“It was a no brainer. I love the place, I love everything about it, and there’s a ton of work to do, not just on the football side of things.

“One of the biggest signings signings was Stuart staying with us, along with Barry O’Sullivan and Shane Kavanagh. Declan Coleman is doing an increidible job with our under 19s, they’re into the semi finals of the national cup, Damien Rowe is doing fantastically well with our under 17s.

“There’s a lot of positive things happening here. And it’s going to take us another two or three years, to get a steady flow of players coming through our youth teams into our senior teams. What we want to do is have our under 19 team be our reserve team, next year we’ll sign 18 players for our senior team and leave the rest of the places open for players who are showing potential with the 19s and are good enough to step up. We have to live within our means, we can’t afford to buy players, so we have to find them and bring them through ourselves, and that’s what the next three years is all about.”

On the injury front, bar Ben O’Riordan who misses out with an ankle injury, everyone else is fit for Saturday’s game.

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Cobh Ramblers FC

Cobh Ramblers Football Club is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colman's Park. The club's colours are claret and blue.