Longford Town face Cobh Ramblers at Bishopsgate on Saturday

There is no doubt that Cobh are at the top end of table for a reason and knowing their manager Shane Keegan he will do everything in his power to keep them in contention. 

The experienced coach was with Wexford Youths, Galway United and Dundalk and more recently he was with Treaty United as head of their academy. It's interesting to note that his day job is Games Promotion Officer with Portlaoise GAA. 

In their opening game Cobh played against Kerry in front of a capacity crowd and had to fight all the way to come away with a 2-0 win.

 Tiernan O'Brien scored their opening goal after 42 mins and former Town player Jack Doherty sealed the victory with an excellent free-kick in the 72nd minute.

Last Friday night Cobh were at home in front of a big  home crowd and O'Brien gave them the lead after only ten minutes but visitors Wexford got back into the game four minutes later when the unfortunate Pierce Phillips put through an OG to give Wexford an equaliser.

The very impressive Dale Holland clinched the win for Cobh with an excellent goal in the 83rd minute.

Last season Cobh were at the wrong end of the table for most of the year but when Keegan arrived results started to improve dramatically and anyone looking at this year's team can see the Keegan profile coming out of his new look team. 

There is no doubt that his best signing to date is former Wexford and Town player Jack Doherty who is a superb player.

Another former Town keeper Lee Steacy will need no introduction to the Longford supporters, another shrewd signing by Keegan. 

Former Galway player Charlie Lyons has also joined Cobh while loan signing Wilson Waweru from Galway is a very exciting prospect and he is a very dangerous player when close to goal. 

Another new arrival to Keegan's squad is loanee from Reading, midfielder Claudio Osorio who was capped at under age level with England. 

Cobh also have some very useful players coming in from Munster Senior League sides so we can expect a tough task at Bishopsgate on Saturday next. 

Last season the clubs  played four games against each other and Longford Town came out on top in all four fixtures.  The first meeting between the clubs was at Bishopsgate and the Town won 2-0 with excellent goals from Darren Craven and Eric Molloy. 

The Town travelled to Cobh in early August and won 4-2 with Dylan Barnett, Cristian Magerusan, Aaron Robinson and Shane Elworthy scoring their goals.

The next meeting between the clubs was at Bishopsgate and goals from Jordan Adeyemo and Mark Hanratty secured all three points for the Town. 

The final meeting between the clubs was in Cobh in early October and that game amazingly ended 4-2 in favour of  Longford again. 

The game was scoreless at half-time but the Town opened the scoring through an OG from Mbayo. Two excellent goals followed from Mark Hanratty in the 65th and 76th with Darren Clarke scoring the fourth in the 90th minute.

 There is no doubt that Cobh will be a completely different team this season as their results to date show. The Town travelled to the RSC on Friday night last to play the Waterford side who are favourites to gain promotion this season and nobody gave the Town a chance after their disappointing defeat against Athlone at Bishopsgate the previous weekend. 

Since the defeat against Athlone the Town manager has added a few new faces to his squad and there is no doubt that their arrival has strengthened the young squad. 

The game against Waterford ended in a 1-1 draw.  Manager Stpehen Henderson has signed Cian Byrne on loan from Bohemians and the young centre-half didn't put a foot wrong against the highly rated opposition. 

Midfielder Gary Armstrong has joined the club from Irish League side Ballinamallard and there is no doubt that he will fit in well alongside Aodh Dervin who had a stormer in the RSC and Ukrainian Vicktor Serdeniuk who is improving with every game. 

Derek Daly, who was injured recently, started against Waterford but he had to be replaced after picking up an injury, hopefully he will be available for the visit of Cobh.  

Losing Daly, James Doona and Cristian Mageruson before the season kicked off was tough on manager Henderson who has a very young squad of players but hopefully the Town will get their first win of the season at home to Cobh Ramblers on Saturday night.

SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town v Cobh Ramblers

at Bishopsgate

Saturday March 4

Kick-off 7.30pm