let's upset Europe again
Browning is a great capture for you with bringing in another player lots of experience who can help lead the defence never mind the team. That's a tough game to start off with in the group stages but would love to see you come up against Linfield in the next round
Cobh Ramblers Unveil New Goalkeeper
Cobh Ramblers stated that they are delighted to have brought in the English U20s international on a free transfer.
The goalkeeper has joined upon the expiry at the end of his contract with EFL Championship outfit West Bromwich Albion.
McCormick, 20, started his career at Crewe Alexandra where he made his senior debut in the Leasing.com Trophy before his League Two debut a week later aged just 16 years old.
Crewe then accepted a bid of £200,000 from West Bromwich Albion in the summer of 2021. However, McCormick never got to make a first-team appearance at The Hawthorns under any of the three different managers during his three years in the Midlands.
West Brom manager Steve Bruce elected not to offer McCormick a new contract in the last year of his contract, leading to interest from a variety of English clubs but the promise of being a starting goalkeeper in the UEFA Champions League with Conor McDonald’s Cobh Ramblers attracted the youngster to the south coast of Ireland.
Just yesterday, Cobh announced the arrivals of two new Under-19 transfers with Dima Kulikov and Miguel Vaz all now falling under the management of Under-19 manager Keith O’Hara.
McCormick has been given the number 40 shirt upon signing his three-year deal at St. Colman’s Park.
Tango: Let's hope so!
tedbro20: I was delighted to see him become available and even moreso when he wanted to discuss terms! I wasn't expecting a draw as difficult as Red Star either! They seem too good to be in this early phase but there you go
McCormick looks decent. Hopefully Cobh can overcome the challenge of Red Star. I reckon they will have enough. The hunger to reach the group stages once again will be there. Absolutely.
Browning is a very good signing for a team that already has an excellent defense. McCormick will also only add to this, with him seemingly having a ton of quality that he will bring. Red Star will be a test in the Champions League but I won't be surprised to see you prevail.
Cobh Confirm Levitt Departure
Dylan Levitt has signed for recently relegated League One side Grimsby Town for a transfer fee of £400,000.
The Manchester United youth graduate joined Cobh Ramblers on a free transfer at the end of his contract at Old Trafford following loan spells at Southend United and AFC Wimbledon.
Being played in his favoured attacking midfielder position, Levitt has only made twelve appearances under Conor McDonald – all coming from the subs bench.
The exit was clearly coming for Levitt as he was left out of the UEFA Champions League squad to take on Red Star Belgrade in the First Qualifying Round.
Levitt said he looked forward to playing more first-team football under new Grimsby manager Michael Morrison who took over from the sacked Phil Neville after suffering relegation from the EFL Championship.
He follows two players out of the door as Jonathan Isambart was signed by Chesterfield in a £20,000 transfer deal whilst MK Dons paid £60,000 for centre-back John Mahon. Eighteen players have also been sent out on loan from the Under-19 squad this summer.
Scott: Ryan is doing well between the sticks but with McCormick it looks like Perrin will be on his way out on loan.
Seb: The defence was the focus on improvement this season and it's been superb so I think we've done a good job there. Red Star will be very tough but we'll do our best!
Well that's a great profit on a player who wasn't much needed for the team. Another boost to the finances at Cobh and the club will no doubt only strengthen off the income.
Considering he joined the club for free and now Cobh walk away with £400,000, I'm sure they won't be too disappointed. No risk involved yet high reward.
June was a break month for Irish football with the ongoing 2024 European Championships including many Premier League players that would have given an unfair advantage to teams less affected by the tournament. However, Cobh still managed to secure their second trophy of the season with the Senior Munster Cup.
The first friendly was against distant title rivals Dundalk which ended in a scoreless draw.
The Senior Munster Cup Final was against Limerick – who sit bottom of the Premier League. It was Conor Carty who delivered the blow to the opposition with 15 minutes left on the clock, winning the competition for the fourth time in a row.
Three more friendlies followed against Galway United, St. Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City and Cobh won all three as they finished June with not so much football played.
Cobh sprung back into league action, putting together an unbeaten run throughout July. The big news was the entry into the Champions League First Qualifying Round as Conor McDonald began to succeed in his pursuit for Group Stage football for the second year running.
Limerick were first up at St. Colman’s Park as a crowd of 827 arrived at the stadium to see Cobh win 3-1 as Conor Carty, Tony Springett and Adrian Granger all scored for The Rams.
Champions League made its long-awaited return to Ireland with the Serbian SuperLiga champions Red Star Belgrade arriving in County Cork for the first time in their history. Cobh took an early lead through Conor Carty but Red Star made it 2-1 in the 89th minute. Layton Stewart gave Cobh a fighting chance for the Second Leg in the 90th minute with an equalizer.
Bohemian were Cobh’s next opponent, splitting up their Champions League fixtures with Red Star. However, Cobh could only manage a draw with the 2nd placed team as Peter Barnes and Chris Savage scored.
The Cobh squad had to face up against a tough Serbian crowd of over 38,000 at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in the capital of Belgrade. Among a sea of pyrotechnics from the Red Star fans, Cobh Ramblers were able to turn the tie on its head, taking a 3-2 lead through Conor Carty before Cian Kavanagh scored a brace to dump Vladan Milojevic’s side out of the Champions League in the First Qualifying Round.
After the announcement that Cobh were going to play Romanian Liga I champions Sepsi OSK in the next round of the Champions League, Cobh faced Dundalk in the period in between. Cobh’s young Finnish substitute Harri Partanen sealed all three points with an 86th minute winner at Oriel Park.
Cobh’s return to Champions League football in the Second Qualifying Round was based in Romania against Sepsi OSK and it ended in a nightmare situation for Conor McDonald as his team was dominated and beaten 3-1 at Stadionul Municipal in the First Leg, giving Cobh a mountain to climb to get back into the competition.
To build up morale before Cobh’s big midweek game at St. Colman’s Park, they had to travel to the Irish capital to take on St. Patrick’s Athletic in the Premier League where they won 2-0 thanks to a Tadhg Ryan penalty and a Rouven Allner goal.
2,500 people crammed into St. Colman’s Park for the Second Leg of the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions League against Sepsi OSK – the Romanian champions. Conor McDonald had to work a miracle and that he did with a stunning 2-0 win to go through to the next round of the Champions League on away goals as goalkeeper Tadhg Ryan scored his second penalty in as many games before Chris Savage completed the turnaround four minutes later.
Despite the focus on the club’s progression in the Champions League, Cobh maintained their eleven-point lead over 2nd placed Bohemian after drawing with Colin Hawkins’ side in July.
Seb: Absolutely, Granger is doing the business and Levitt just really couldn't fit in anywhere. I'm glad Grimsby came in when they did!
Wolf: Absolutely, I'm surprised they paid as much as they did
Scott: For sure, not too high of a wage either, I'll take as much money as I can for these types of players.
Surprised that Levitt never got much of a chance, but £400k for a bit-part player is fantastic money. Your results in Europe are so damn satisfying, that result in Belgrade..! To then go 3-1 on aggregate and come back from it at home: did you run around the room celebrating?
You need to say sorry to the manager of Galway's mum, I feel she was on the end of a very upset phone call
Conor likes to make it difficult for himself in the champions league doesn't he? I'm guessing he just likes to be the hero in pulling it back in the 2nd half
Surprised to see you struggle in the Champions League against Sepsi to be honest. But at least it shows this squads got a strong character to come back from a deficit, something they haven't had to do too many times. Your keeper scoring penalties is just a pisstake of the league at this point 
As Seb said, you'd expect the team not to struggle against Sepsi after beating Red Star quite convincingly. Luckily the team never gave up the faith and managed to go through!
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