Page 2 - COBH WANDERERS V SLIGO ROVERS FAI CUP 3RD ROUND 2015

A few words from our Chairman Joe Stack

As chairman of Cobh Wanderers AFC I would like to welcome Sligo
Rovers FC to St.Colman’s Park on the occasion of the 3rd Round of the
Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup. This is the first time that our club has
progressed beyond the 1st Round of the FAI Cup which is a wonderful
achievement for a club of our size and one that we are justifiably very
proud of. Our opponents Sligo Rovers FC are one of the biggest clubs
in the SSE Airtricity League and they have a very proud tradition in this
competition.

This fixture also evokes special memories of the glorious FAI Cup
matches between our gracious hosts tonight Cobh Ramblers FC and Sligo Rovers back in 1983
where the town of Cobh came to a virtual standstill on each of the 4 occasions that the sides
met both here in Flower Lodge, Cork and Sligo.

A very special bond grew between the 2 clubs and we are proud to have a few links ourselves
with that wonderful Cobh Ramblers team, with my own brother Tim Stack and Davin O’Neill’s
Dad Paul O’Neill being members of the Rambler’s squad that excited and thrilled us so much
during that period. Those games still bring back many happy memories to the soccer com-
munity here in Cobh where many a tale of missed buses, taking wrong roads home, many a
schoolboy missing school and adults alike missing work during this period are still doing the
rounds. We welcome Sligo Rovers and their new management team to Cobh and we hope to
make this an occasion that will encourage the soccer folk of Cobh, Cork city and surround-
ing areas to come out and support the Wanderers in their quest for further glory in the Cup,
and indeed support all of the clubs in Cobh which has always had a very strong tradition in
football for many many years.
Under the professional style of management team of Eric McCarthy and Darragh Burke the
senior squad achieved their dual goals of winning the 2nd Division of the Munster Senior
League to gain promotion to the 1st Division of the MSL and win a local cup which they duly
did when they clinched the Pop Keller cup as well last season, by winning the Pop Keller Cup.
The cup victory raised many happy past memories as the cup was named after a Cobh man
Pop Keller who played for both Wanderers and Ramblers in his heyday. The team also had
successful runs in the Intermediate Cup, Munster Cup and Beamish Cup’s last season.

The management team have strengthened their backroom team also this season with the ad-
dition of experienced personnel in Dave Ryan and Ryan O’Neill to help spread and lighten the
workload. They have also added to their squad this season with new signing’s in addition to
what was an already a very talented squad of players which can only offer the management
team further options in their quest for further honours this season. The present squad is of
the highest quality one which the club has ever had in it’s history, although some might argue
this, with the club having the majority of top class players from the town playing for the club
over many years, this one ranks up there with the best but I will leave that argument for
another day. Eric and Darragh have brought in the most talented and skilful players that are
available and they in turn have helped to raise the profile and reputation of the club with their
stylish brand of football being praised by all who have witnessed the team playing last sea-
son. The likes of Ian Stapleton, Brian Fitzgerald, Conor Meade, Gavin Kavanagh, John Meade,
Davin O’Neill, Shane Barrett,Mikey O’Shea, and 2 very experienced goalkeepers in Jason
Green and Michael Devine who all have League of Ireland experience to bring on the likes of
the younger members of the squad Eddie Nolan, Steven Bruton, David Stack, Shane Geasley,
Eoin Hasting’s, Peter Nolan, Alan O’Flynn, Adam Thomson, Owen Kinsella, James Stoat, Gary
Collins, Emmett O’Hanlon, Kyle Downing, Tony O’Donovan.
Many congrats to our Junior squad who gained promotion from the 2nd Division of the MSL
missing out by 1 point to clinch the league to Ringmahon Rangers, I would like in particular
to thank the management team of Jonathan O’Mahony and Val Keenan who have been club
stalwarts and clubmen for many many years and who gave their all to manage and guide