James O'Leary wrote his name into Cobh Ramblers folklore as his late equaliser at St Colman’s Park in a 1-1 draw gave the club a 2-1 aggregate victory over Wexford FC in the promotion play-off semi-finals.
Shane Keegan’s team went into this game with a 1-0 aggregate lead from the first leg at Ferrycarrig Park and James Crawford blew the tie wide open by volleying in midway through the first half.
It was O’Leary’s neat finish in the pouring rain that made history for Cobh, and sets up a promotion play-off final against Waterford next weekend.
The actual game epitomised knock-out football as chances were few and far between over the prize being so great.
The only player that actually tried something during the opening minutes of play was Ethan Boyle and he fired high and wide at the Liam McMahon Stand.
Cobh almost opened the scoring when Wilson Waweru weaved through the area and the ball went out for a corner. Pierce Philips got to the set piece at the back post and he set up the striker for a shot that was palmed over by Owen Mason
The half-hour mark coincided with a Wexford corner and the ball was cleared to Crawford. His left legged volley hit the back of the net with so much force that Lee Steacy had no chance of getting to it, and Wexford equalised on aggregate.
Cobh pushed up in a bid to get something after the restart and they gave away a turnover that ended with Thomas Oluwa narrowly missing the target.
The striker then tried to guide in a Cian O’Malley cross and he once again was left frustrated as the ball went out for a goal-kick.
A third opportunity went Oluwa’s way at the start of the second half and he once again failed to score.
The tempo of the game shifted massively after the hat-trick of misses as the players were forced to comfort the deteriorating conditions that seemed to get heavier and heavier with each passing second.
The pitch grew heavy and slippy, and it meant the two teams had to work out a way of playing their traditional game.
The Ramblers used home comforts to create space for Jack Doherty on the right and he sent a low cross to O’Leary. He finished into an empty net in the 75th minute and Cobh led 2-1 on agreement.
Wexford tried to equalise straight away and Steacy was forced to dive low and get a hand to a Darragh Levingston shot. Brendeán Frahill then held his ground to divert the loose ball out of play and the resulting corner came to nothing.
One more save by the Cobh goalkeeper was enough to book the club’s place in the promotion play-off final.
Cobh Ramblers: Lee Steacy; Cian Browne, Brendeán Frahill, Charlie Lyons, Wilson Waweru, Pierce Philips (Alec Byrne 90), Jack Doherty, Mikie Rowe (Dale Holland 85), Dean Larkin, James O’Leary (Tiernan O’Brien 82), Jason Abbott.
Wexford FC: Owen Mason; Darragh Levingston (Mark Hanratty 83), Ethan Boyle, Aaron Dobbs, Luka Lovic, James Crawford (Danny Furlong 82), Kian Corbally, Reece Webb, Cian O’Malley, Luke Browne, Thomas Oluwa.
Referee: Marc Lynch
