Cobh Ramblers are up to second in the League of Ireland First Division following a 5-0 victory over Longford Town at St Colman's Park.
Mick McDermott’s side stormed ahead, with Samuel Bellis and Waterford native Shane Griffin scoring inside five minutes, and that set the team up for a comfortable night in front of 1043 spectators.
Barry Coffey got two and David Bosnjak’s second league goal of the season polished the win.
It all started with Cian Murphy running down the right wing in the third minute. The striker rounded an onrushing Harry Halwax and set up Barry Coffey for a shot that was cleared to Bellis for a simple tap in.
The would-be scorer then went down and won his team a free-kick which Shane Griffin curled in at the Liam McMahon Stand.
Cobh kept probing and it would have been 3-0 on 10th minute if not for an excellent save at the near post by Halwax to deny Bellis.
Longford did have chances, with Aaron Doran creating their first opening with a cross that Dean George managed to get a head to. Timothy Martin stood his ground on that occasion, and it was followed by Jonas Häkkinen blocking a goal-bound shot from Doran at the half hour mark.
The Ramblers soaked up the pressure and broke, which allowed Waterford’s Shane Griffin to find Coffey with a cross that knocked in by the midfielder with 37 minutes on the clock.
Longford tried to get themselves back into the game after the restart with an attempt from Doran and this went harmlessly out for a goal-kick.
This meant very little to Cobh, as they stuck rigidly to McDermott’s possession based game plan.
Coffey’s second goal was their reward, with the midfielder turning in a low Niall O’Keeffe cross at the 56th minute.
Longford tried to get themselves back in the game with a quadruple substitution designed to inject a fresh sense of energy into a group that was getting out-run and out-played since kick-off.
McDermott reacted to this by making their own changes, with Bosnjak, Brendeán Frahill, and Jason Abbott coming on at the 68th minute.
The trio slotted in and did their bit for a team that was enjoying possession and finding space in wide areas.
This led to an opening, and Bosnjak used it to get in and hit the back of the net at the 82nd minute.
Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin; John O’Donovan, Niall O’Keeffe (Jason Abbott 68), Shane Griffin, Barry Coffey, Cian Murphy (Tiernan O’Brien 70), Cian Coleman (Nolan Evers 75), Jonas Häkkinen, Shane Griffin (Brendeán Frahill 68), Dale Holland, Samuel Bellis (David Bosnjak 68).
Longford Town: Harry Halwax; Dean George (Jamal Ibrahim 79), Emre Topcu (Etoile Emmanuel Milongo 64), Pharrell Manuel (Francis Campbell 64), Daragh Murtagh (Mohammad Bodiaf 64), Osaze Irhue, Aaron Doran (Ross Fay 64), Dean O’Shea, Eric Yoro, Andrew Spain, Joshua Harsani Giurgi.
Referee: Thomas Joyce
Elsewhere Dundalk stayed top of the table despite being held to a 2-2 draw against Treaty United at Oriel Park.
Dean Ebbe put the Lilywhites ahead on 26 minutes and they looked home and hosed when Aodh Dervin doubled their lead with ten minutes to play.
However Eoin Martin halved the deficity woth four minutes to go and in stoppage time Lee Molloy snatched a dramatic and unlikely point.
Bray Wanderers won 1-0 in Kerry thanks to Callum Costello's third minute goal that came after a calamitous, bizarre mixup at the back.
UCD and Finn Harps played out a 1-1 draw. Adam Brennan put the Students ahead five minutes before the break, but Barry McNamee got Harps back on level terms early in the second half and that's how it stayed.
Gideon Tetteh got the all-imprtant goal as Athlone Town beat Wexford 1-0 to earn their first victory of the campaign.
