Goalkeeper Arthur Nganou has become a familiar face within the club’s academy over the past few years. Having joined our U17 setup from Midleton in 2017, Arthur has progressed strongly since then and is now a member of our U19 side. Having played in three of their four ties this season he remains a firm fixture in the side and is loving every minute of it,
“I’m definitely enjoying my time at the club. I’m always learning something new every time that I play and at training. The people involved in the club have been great and are always there to give a helping hand.”
As said previously, having joined Damien Rowe’s U17s in 2017, this is Arthur’s third season at Ramblers. He stepped up from Midleton’s side in the Cork Schoolboys League with relative ease despite the jump to League of Ireland level.
“The step up to playing LOI wasn’t as hard as I imagined as luckily I had played a lot of matches at a high level before. It wasn’t as consistent as playing with Cobh week in week out though and that’s the main difference. The strikers in this league are far more clinical and will punish any mistakes you make.”
It’s been a busy year for the Leaving Cert student in Midleton CBS. As well representing Cobh on the national stage, he captained his school to the Munster Senior Schools Cup and an All-Ireland final. This was clearly a proud moment for the young goalkeeper,
“Captaining CBS to the Munster title and the All-Ireland final really was unbelievable. It’s shaped me to become a better player. It was an honour to lead out the lads I went to school with for six years. I hope the team next year can push on and follow in our footsteps, we’ve left the jersey in a better place.”
Turning back to Ramblers matters, it hasn’t been a great start to the season just yet but Arthur is relatively confident of turning that around,
“Our start hasn’t been good enough and it has been frustrating for all of us. Your self-esteem does take a blow. We just haven’t taken our chances and at this level teams will punish you and we’ve seen it. We are very confident in turning it around though. We have good players and a good coaching staff. We just need to be a bit more confident in our ability and keep grafting away. This team are more than capable of turning this around.”
When it comes to picking out one moment that stands out for Arthur there is one in particular that comes to mind. During a rollercoaster 2017 campaign with the U17s, a win at home to Rovers really meant a lot.
“Beating Rovers 3-1 in St Colman’s was pretty special. The season up to then hadn’t been brilliant and that win was a pivotal moment that turned the year around. We had worked hard and deserved something big like that. We pushed on after then and finished the season well.”
Arthur and the rest of the Cobh Ramblers U19 side face Cabinteely on Saturday April 20th in their next Elite Division fixture.
By Thomas Stafford
