Tidy little image there, how did you put that together?

Get it up ya, Sarah.

Sarah is FUMING!

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Conor McDonald lost his 100% record in the league in August as Cobh Ramblers fell to two defeats in the Airtricity First Division and were knocked out of the Ford Cup 1st Round by Premier League opponents.

McDonald’s first game of the month was against table-topping Shelbourne who lead the way in the First Division by five points. It was the new manager’s first big test since joining in late June after an unbeaten spell throughout July.

It took 39 minutes for the first goal of the game to be registered for Shelbourne but they quickly doubled their lead within two minutes with goals from Darragh Noone and former Rams striker Jaze Kabia just before the break.

Ian Turner pegged Shelbourne back with a penalty on the hour mark but Shelbourne reasserted their dominance over Cobh within ten minutes as Kabia bagged his brace and another was scored by Alex O’Hanlon to make it 4-1 heading into the final twenty minutes.

Cian Leonard scored a consolation goal in the 90th minute for Cobh but even that was tainted two minutes later by Lorcan Fitzgerald making it 5-2 to Shelbourne.

A ten day gap between their next league fixture led Cobh to mull over their first loss under McDonald but they bounced back with a 2-0 win over high-flyers Longford Town all thanks to a Cian Leonard double in the second half.

McDonald’s debut in the Ford Cup came along with an early exit as they took Premier League outfit Finn Harps to penalties in a scoreless draw in which they were beaten 5-3 due to a David Hurley miss.

Due to a break in competitive fixtures, Cobh Ramblers lined up a friendly against local rivals Cobh Wanderers at St. Colman’s Stadium in which they ran out 4-3 winners.

Perhaps the biggest embarrassment for McDonald so far in his reign came against bottom of the table Wexford who had only won a single game all season prior to running out as 2-0 winners in the league as Conor English and Andrew Wall secured three points against Cobh at Ferrycarrig Park.

Despite all the results this month, this still leaves Cobh in sixth place and have now not budged in league position in all of McDonald’s 64 days in charge of the club with only five games now remaining in the season, all but ruling out any chance of Cobh exchanging positions with any club higher than 7th place.

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Eoin: And it sure feels good Cheers mate.
tedbro20: I'd certainly like to think so!
Griffo: Thanks mate! Admittedly I just tried creating a physical likeness of McDonald's FM appearance on FIFA Career Mode and I just screenshotted the images that FIFA creates and made the rest with filters etc.
Scott: 'Ave it!
Seb: As Scott would say 'FUUUUUUUMIN'

A first defeat followed by a second in fairly quick succession for Mcdonald. Let's see if those defeates were just a small blip.

Always tried to do a save in Ireland, but I've always struggled to maintain my motivation with the save. Best of luck, looking forward to seeing where you go with this

You must really hate away games.

Losing to bottom of the league is always the way.

Looking settled in the league at the very least, can only build from here!

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Shamrock Rovers and Cobh Ramblers have today announced a partnership between the two clubs for the causes of development of Irish players.

Cobh Ramblers chairman Michael O’Donovan said “Unfortunately resources within Ireland football are limited and only through clubs, schools, governing bodies et cetera working together can we get close to bridging the gap between professional academies in Europe and local Irish Academies.

“Add to this the professional experience and guidance of one of Ireland’s largest clubs and we have no doubts that once fully implemented this development partnership with Shamrock Rovers will establish a solid foundation for all of our and Shamrock Rovers young players within Cobh and Tallaght and surrounding areas.”

More details surrounding the partnership include an annual payment to Cobh Ramblers in the region of €13,000 which will greatly help the finances of the Airtricity First Division club.

Shamrock Rovers will also be able to send young players on loan to Cobh Ramblers in which Cobh Ramblers will have no obligation to play them however, Shamrock Rovers will be able to recall their players at any point.

An annual friendly will also take place between Shamrock Rovers and Cobh Ramblers with The Rams taking all of the gate proceeds from the fixture.

As current tables stand, Shamrock Rovers are on course to win the Irish top flight, sitting two points above 2nd placed Dundalk with eight games remaining in the Aitricity Premier League.

On the other hand, Cobh stand 6th place in the Airtricity First Division following a 2-1 away loss at the hands of Tim Clancy’s Drogheda United with only four games remaining in the league.

The partnership will be severed in the instance of Cobh playing in the same division as Shamrock Rovers, whether Cobh will be promoted to the Premier League or the unlikely event of Shamrock Rovers being relegated to the second tier - something that has not occurred since 2005 after a points deduction following the submission of out-of-date documents to play in the Premier League for the 2005 season.

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Eoin: Indeed, hopefully Cobh can get back on their feet and have a good finish to the season.
James: It took a while for me to decide if I should take a job offer in Ireland but I'm enjoying it and it's fairly similar to the Scandinavian footballing schedule which I have done before.
Justice: They really shouldn't exist.
Scott: Wish I'd have put a bet on it occurring

Great partnership, lets see what players you can get from it

A shrewd business decision. A brilliant partnership that benefits both parties.

Shamrock have a wealth of young players that will be an asset for any second tier side.

Can see that partnership being a real benefit to the club in the next few seasons as Cobh look to make their way into the top division. A good bit of business with the added benefit of extra money coming into the club. Nicely done.

A great partnership set up there, can hopefully get some promising youngsters in on loan that can help a promotion push next season