Cobh Ramblers 0
Treaty United 0
Andrew Horgan reports from St Colman’s Park
COBH RAMBLERS and Treaty United will both contest 11 more Munster Derbies apiece in this SSE Airtricity League First Division season — three more against each other — and the hope for fans is those games will be a lot more entertaining than this 0-0 draw at St Colman’s Park on Friday night.
Following a rather dull 80 plus minutes or so, the best of the action occurred in the closing stages when John Kavanagh and Danny O’Connell almost won it for Cobh before Callum McNamara almost did likewise for Treaty when he saw an effort blocked on the line.
But the result was a fair one and it will be Cobh who will be the happier of the two sides as they bounced back from their disappointing 3-2 loss at home to Wexford last time out to claim their first point of the 2022 campaign.
The closest the Rams came to scoring in the first half was when former Cork City attacker Beineon O’Brien Whitmarsh cleverly pulled the ball back to Danny O’Connell but his goalbound effort deflected wide of the near upright.
O’Connell went close again in the final moments of this tight affair when, after John Kavanagh’s fierce hit from distance was parried by Treaty goalkeeper Jack Brady, the winger cut inside his man but his low strike was also stopped by the visiting number one.
Treaty fared better on the opening night of the season as they defeated Wexford 5-1 but that match was two weeks ago and they struggled to rediscover their rhythm after an extended break.
Former Cobh midfielder Lee Devitt nearly found the bottom left corner moments before the half-time break but his thunderous hit drifted narrowly wide.
McNamara almost helped the Limerick club make it two wins out of two but his shot was blocked on the line late on as the two Munster rivals were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.
COBH RAMBLERS: Andy O’Donoghue, John Kavanagh, Ben O’Riordan, Jason Abbott (Nathan O’Connell 83), Danny O’Connell, Pierce Philips (Dale Holland 81), Beineon O’Brien Whitmarsh, Conor Drinan, Jack Larkin (Jake Hegarty 66), Issa Kargbo, Harlain Mbayo.
TREATY UNITED: Jack Brady, Charlie Fleming, Marc Ludden, Sean Guerins, Callum McNamara, Conor Melody, Lee Devitt, Joel Coustrain (Matt Keane 83), Enda Curran (Dean George 72), Mark Walsh, Stephen Christopher (William Armshaw 83).
Referee: Gavin Colfer.
Other First Division results:
Wexford 2-1 Athlone
Galway 2-2 Waterford