Finn Harps fall to ninth after heavy defeat in Cobh

The month of May may only be five days old but for Finn Harps, the three hours spent on the football pitch has been disappointing after going unbeaten throughout their four games in April.

Cobh Ramblers 4 Finn Harps 1

Back-to-back defeats by a scoreline of 4-1 has seen Dave Rogers side drop to ninth in the table, level on points with Longford Town, who occupy the spot above.

James O'Leary gave Shane Keegan's side an early lead and Liam Kervick made it two before Noe Baba reduced the deficit before the interval.

Charlie Lyons bagged ten minutes into the second-half and Kervick got his second of the night at the midway point of the half to take Cobh Ramblers up to third.

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After Harps' Monday blues, three changes were implemented in the side as Keith Cowan, Caoimhin Porter and Okwuy Okwute returned. Those missing out were Ryan Rainey, Ryan Flood and Ellis Farrar.

In their first trip to St. Colman's Park since 2018, things didn't start swimmingly as Cobh Ramblers chased a first win over Harps on home soil since 2014.

Okwute had the first sight of goal inside just 30 seconds but found Brendan Frahill in the way while an effort from Charlie Lyons at the other end was thwarted by Cowan.

With just seven minutes on the clock, the hosts found the back of the net.

Conor Drinan had time on the left side and his low ball into the six yard box was calmly slotted away by O'Leary.

Harps responded well to that early goal and had a couple of chances to get back level but found Lee Steacy equal to their efforts.

On 10 minutes, after some penalty area head tennis, Cowan found the target but he was denied by his former Drogheda United teammate and just five minutes later, Baba hit a low drive towards goal but a strong glove from the net-minder parried it wide.

Cobh grew in confidence after those saves from their number one and on the half hour mark, they doubled their lead.

O'Leary found Wilson Waweru with a short pass on the edge of the area and after holding the ball up, his turn and pass allowed Kervick to bear down on goal and fire into the top right corner.

That two-goal cushion lasted about ten minutes as Harps got a goal back five minutes before the interval.

Seamas Keogh whipped the ball in from a free kick on the right and Daithi McCallion nodded it back across goal for Baba to finish off from close range.

Tim Heimer made a fine double save at the start of the second-half to deny Waweru and Brendan Frahill but the next attempt left him stranded after an excellent save.

The Former Borussia Moenchengladbach youngster pulled off a strong one-handed save to thwart Drinan from point blank range but was rooted to the ground as Lyons headed home the rebound.

Things got worse for Harps with a little under 20 minutes to go as Cobh found the net for a fourth time.

A long throw-in on the right was headed on by Frahill and it fell invitingly for Kervick to blast beyond Heimer from 18 yards.

Kervick had the chance to bag his third of the afternoon as the final ten minutes began but he chose to set up an effort for Jason Abbott, who fizzed his shot narrowly over the bar from the edge of the box.

Harps had a late chance at some consolation but Max Johnston could only direct his headed effort onto the roof of Steacy's goal.

Cobh Ramblers: Lee Steacy; Michael McCarthy, Brendan Frahill, Charlie Lyons (Justin Eguaibor 84) Jason Abbott; Conor Drinan, Liam Kervick, Dale Holland (Callum Stringer 88), Tiernan O'Brien (Charlie O'Brien 78) James O'Leary (Claudio Osorio 84); Wilson Waweru (Jake Hegarty 88).

Finn Harps: Tim Heimer; Caoimhin Porter (Jamie McKinney 79), Daithi McCallion, Keith Cowan, Shane McMonagle (Kevin Jordan 79); Noe Baba, Katlego Mashigo (Damien Duffy 79), Seamas Keogh; Michael Harris (Max Johnston 71), Okwuy Okwute (Sean O'Donnell 61), Filip Da Silva.

Referee: Alan Patchell.