Kerry FC shock nine-man Cobh Ramblers to reach last eight for the first time
Colin Healy's Kerry FC saw off nine-man Cobh Ramblers in Mounthawk Park on Friday to reach the last eight of the FAI Cup for the first time in their brief history.
It belied their respective league positions with Ramblers in second place behind leaders Dundalk in the First Division while Kerry FC are struggling in eighth position. Cobh Ramblers had lost only one of their five league game while Kerry FC had just one win.
But cup football is a different ball game and goals from Cian Brosnan and Joe Adams helped Kerry to a comfortable 2-0 victory after John O'Donovan's opening-minute red card made what looked like a good chance for Ramblers to reach the quarter-final stages a nightmare.
Ramblers' misery was rather summarised by captain Shane Griffin's dismissal for a dive at the beginning of injury time.
Less than 60 seconds after kick-off Ramblers were reduced to 10 men. John O'Donovan struggled to deal with the pressure of chasing Brosnan and turned the ball over to the Kerry attacker. With Brosnan through on goal, O'Donovan chose to take him down, which left referee Aaron O'Dowd no choice but to send the Cobh defender off.
It took Kerry just seven minutes to take advantage of the extra man. Brosnan capped off a wonderful opening spell with the game's opening goal. It was a left-footed volley off a breaking ball at the edge of the area that he could not have caught any sweeter.
Ramblers began to enjoy a little bit of possession as they looked to level the tie. However, Kerry were comfortable at the back with the extra man, as Mick McDermott's men were unable to muster up an effort on target before the first half came to a close.
They kept the pressure up and came within inches of a leveller 10 minutes into the second half. Cian Murphy latched onto a Bargary cross but was denied superbly by Matthew Connor in the Kerry goal.
Just after the hour mark, Kerry doubled their lead. Once again, it came from an unnecessary Cobh mistake as Iestyn Hughes pushed Joe Adams to the floor inside the corner of the box. The Kingdom's Welshman stepped up and drilled the spot-kick into the top left corner.
Kerry will now go into the hat for the quarter-final draw on Tuesday in what is sure to be a historic fixture for the Kingdom.
Kerry FC: Matthew Connor; Kevin Williams, Samuel Aladesanusi, Chris McQueen, Niall Brookwell, Sean O'Connell; Oran Crowe, Carl Mujaguzi, Ronan Teahan; Cian Brosnan, Robert Cleary. Subs: Joe Adams for Aladesanusi (53), Finn Barrett for Brosnan (65), Ryan Perez for Barrett (87)
Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin, John O'Donovan, Cian Coleman, Shane Griffin, Jonas Hakkinen; Niall O'Keefe, Harvey Cribb; Shane Griffin, Barry Coffey, Cian Bargary; Cian Murphy Subs: Iestyn Hughes for O'Keefe (60), Dylan McGlade for Bargary (72), Matthew Whelan for Murphy (72), Rhys Gourdie for Griffin (81), Samuel Bellis for Coffey (81)
Referee: Aaron O'Dowd
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