It ended 1-1 between Cobh Ramblers and Treaty United in tonight’s action in the League of Ireland First Division in what was a tightly contested game.

Despite a bright start from the home side, the visitors will feel that they deserved a win tonight, but they were met with a fierce and passionate Cobh defence.

Cobh started the game at a ferocious tempo, looking to stun the visitors from the get go. The home side made their early pressure count inside just two minutes as Jack Doherty smashed the ball into the back of the Treaty United net after a long throw from Darragh O’Sullivan Connell found its way to the striker. It was poor defending from the visitors, who failed to clear the danger inside their own six yard box, leaving goalkeeper Shane Hallahan with no chance.

For the next 15 minutes, Cobh were in complete control of the tie as they were on the hunt for a second goal that would surely kill the game. They dominated possession and put the Treaty defence under some serious pressure, but the visitors did well to hold firm. In the 17^th minute, completely against the run of play, the visitors scored an excellent goal through Colin Conroy, the midfielder volleying the ball into the bottom right-hand corner after Cobh failed to clear a free kick on the edge of their box. It was a stunning strike from Conroy, who gave his team a foot hold in the match after a period of dominance from the home side.

For the remainder of the half, it was the visitors who dominated proceedings, creating multiple chances through the likes of Success Edogun, Conor Barry and Dean George. Edogun and Barry linked up nicely down the right-hand-side of the pitch, causing all sorts of problems for the Cobh defence, who looked rattled.

Cobh goalkeeper Lee Steacy can take full credit for keeping Cobh in the game at half time, having been forced to make a number of good saves in the opening 45 minutes. Despite their early period of dominance, Cobh then struggled to create any dangerous chances for the rest of the half, and lacked composure after Treaty’s equaliser.

The second half had a much more frantic feel to it, as both teams came out after the break on a mission to take 3 points away from the match. In the opening 10 minutes of the half, both sides had some excellent opportunities to pull ahead, but neither side showed the necessary composure to make these chances count. Hallahan in the Treaty ned made a brilliant save in the 50^th minute to deny Waweru what looked to be a certain goal, and just two minutes later, Treaty’s Alec Byrne blasted the ball over the bar from less than 10 yards out, much to everyone’s disbelief.

Treaty United will certainly feel like they should have got more from this match, especially considering their dominance in the first half, but Cobh Ramblers really fought hard in the second half to get more of a foothold in the game.

Treaty mounted the pressure on the home side in the closing 10 minutes and arguably should have come away with all 3 points, but were met with firm resistance from the Cobh defence who showed real passion to keep the scores level.