Something Special

Cobh Wanderers  1  Greystones United  0

FAI Intermediate Cup - Semi Final Replay

Sometimes you stumble upon a game, turn up out of pure curiosity, and then end up witnessing something quite special.

I'd been following Cobh Wanderers on Twitter as they were going to be the away team on the Tuesday evening at UCC, which I'd been planning to attend until the game was postponed. However, while checking their tweets I noticed that on the previous weekend they were playing away at what they were terming the biggest game in the clubs recent history. The Intermediate Cup Semi Final at Greystones United.

The Crowd Builds

The FAI Intermediate Cup is a competition for clubs playing outside of the professional ranks of the League of Ireland, and in the past eight seasons it's been dominated by two sides, Crumlin United and Avondale United. Clubs from the respective leagues in Munster, Leinster and Ulster compete, on a national basis, and the final is played at the Aviva Stadium. It's prestigious, and when you get as far as Cobh have, you damn well want to go all the way!

The game at Greystones, a Wicklow based club, finished goalless, so I then spotted in the early part of the week that the replay was going to be on the Saturday at Cobh's ground, Old Church Park. It looked a far more intriguing option than my original thoughts of a trip to Ringmahon Rangers. When I say intriguing, I really didn't know what to expect?

Viewing Spaces At A Premium

Clearly for Wanderers this was a big thing, they are the smaller of the two clubs in Cobh, with Ramblers playing in the LOI. But I was really curious to see how the town would get out and support them. I wouldn't imagine in Cobh you are born a Rambler or a Wanderer and never the twain shall meet, but at the same time, just how much interest was their in the junior of the two sides across the local footballing community?

In short, an awful lot! I arrived forty minutes before kick off, grabbed one of the few remaining parking spaces on the lane to the ground, and joined the growing gaggle of spectators making their way to the gate to hand over the Five Euro admission. The ground is a railed off pitch, with a small dressing room building on one side, and to cater for the crowd, a gazebo had been erected from where hot food and drinks could be bought.

By kick off I would estimate a crowd of around 1000 had assembled, I was really unsure what the turn out would be, but even at the higher end of my estimations, I never expected this many. Good viewing points were at a premium so I opted for an elevated view from the grass bank that ran from the video gantry along to the corner flag, and from that vantage point we witnessed a very tense opening forty five minutes that was devoid of any real goal scoring opportunity. The game reminded me of some of the non-league play off games I'd seen in England, high in intensity, atmosphere, and nerves, but as a result the spectacle wasn't that great.

Wanderers were the better team though, and as the second period wore on they started to grow in confidence. A couple of reasonable chances went begging before the deadlock was broken. A ball in from the left was met by the head of Alan O'Flynn, and found the net via the crossbar. It was pandemonium on the pitch as the entire Cobh bench finished up in a huge pile on top of O'Flynn, but with fifteen minutes still to go there was plenty of work to do.

Old Church Park - Packed To The Rafters

Greystones threw men forward but the goal really knocked the stuffing out of them and they struggled to create anything of note. Three minutes of added time prolonged the agony for Cobh but the final whistle eventually arrived and history had been made.

Like many others I swarmed onto the pitch (for photographic reasons!) and watched the celebrations close hand. A date with Liffey United beckons, this was dreamland for little Cobh.

Driving back to Cork, the local radio reported the game as the lead story on the sports news, this was a huge moment for the town of Cobh, and was I glad I'd made the decision to witness it. Cobh Ramblers did indeed win the competition in 1983 as a senior side prior to entering the professional ranks. I wouldn't bet against the Wanderers completing a unique double.

I'll be watching from afar, but I suspect the town will be empty that day when every man, woman and child heads up to Dublin. It'll be a grand old day out, I wish them well!

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