Cobh Ramblers' dream start to the SSE Airtricity Men's First Division season continued with a 2-0 victory over promotion rivals Athlone Town at St Colman's Park.
Cian Murphy and Waterford native Shane Griffin got the goals for Mick McDermott’s side, who are two points off league leaders Dundalk.
The result stretches their unbeaten start to the season to eight games, a stat that includes victories over Kerry and Cork City in the Munster Senior Cup.
The Ramblers started quickly with an early chance for Waterford’s Shane Griffin bobbling narrowly wide inside two minutes.
Athlone responded with a Kyle O’Connor cross to the back post that John O’Donovan headed away for the home side.
Cian Murphy then broke and teed up Barry Coffey for a stunning strike that Matthew Connor pushed out for a corner.
The resulting set-piece led to rushed attempts by David Bosnjak and Cian Coleman, but Athlone held their ground.
Declan McDaid retaliated for his side, with a neat strike that fizzed wide.
Cobh finished the first half with a flourish, and they were unlucky not to take the lead when Coffey collected a low pass from Cian Bargary. The midfielder’s shot from right in front of the posts was pushed out for a corner that came to nothing by Matthew Connor.
The game restarted with McDaid trying his luck once again, and this time he hit the crossbar.
The Ramblers shrugged off the close call and went on to get the opening goal in the 57th minute.
That came from Cork’s Shane Griffin passing out from the back, and Coffey kept this going by picking out Murphy. The striker went for goal from the tightest of angles and the shot was turned in via the far post after a meek save by Matthew Connor.
Athlone pushed up as soon as the game got back underway and Gideon Tetteh was brought on in a bid to kick-start the comeback.
The winger, who came through the Shamrock Rovers academy, immediately made his presence known by latching onto a loose clearance and firing wide.
Such an advance meant space and out of that, Griffin was able to get in and score the clincher in added time.
Athlone were winded, dropping to sixth place in the table at the end of the night.
Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin; John O’Donovan, Niall O’Keeffe (Mikey Carroll 90), Shane Griffin, Cian Bargary (Tiernan O’Brien 80), Barry Coffey (Jason Abbott), Cian Murphy, Cian Coleman, David Bosnjak (Nolan Evers 69), Shane Griffin, Dale Holland (George Nunn 80).
Athlone Town: Matthew Connor; Kyle O’Connor (Brian Torre 83), Dylan Hand, Aaron Connolly (Matthew Leal 84), Declan McDaid (German Fuentes Rodrigue 84), Cole Omorehiomwan, Noe Baba, Ben Feeney, John Ross Wilson, Kailin Barlow (Kyle Robinson 64), Bastien Hery (Gideon Tetteh 64).
Referee: Ray Matthews
Dundalk had to dig deep to beat Longford Town 2-1 and make it six wins out of six.
Longford silenced Oriel Park in the 18th minute when Aaron Doran helped the ball into the box, and Darragh Murtagh pounced to steer home the opener.
The Lilywhites equalised just before te half-hour mark. Dean Ebbe was bundled over in the box, dusted himself down and converted the spot-kick.
Dundalk pushed hard for the winner and it came 11 minutes from time. After great work from Andy Paraschiv, Eoin Kenny fired home to break Longford hearts and keep Ciaran Kilduff's side top.
Finn Harps picked up their first win of the season in style, hammering Bray Wanderers 5-0 in Donegal.
Max Hutchison put them ahead with four minutes gone and Gavin Hodgins doubled the advantage in the 2th minute. Bray were doomed six minutes later when Callum Costello picked up a second yellow, and a bad night only got worse.
Michael Place made it 3-0 five minutes before the break, with Dara McGuinness and Barry Mcnamee tagging on two more in the second half.
Kerry moved up to fifth with a 2-1 victory at Wexford. Chris McQueen and Joe Adams had Kerry two goals to the good with only five minutes on the clock.
The hosts set up a big finale when Mikie Rowe found the net in the 77th minute, but hopes of a comeback shrivelled Darragh Levingston walked for two yellows late on.
In the division's other clash, UCD and Treaty United played out a goalless draw at Belfield.
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