🗞️ Match Preview | Cobh Ramblers vs Dundalk FC

Dundalk FC
3 hours ago
3 min read

📅 Date: Friday, October 17, 2025

⏰ Kick-off: 7.45PM

📍 Venue: St Colman’s Park

Dundalk make the trip to Cork tomorrow night as First Division champions, returning to the Premier Division at the first time of asking after last week’s emphatic 3-0 victory over Finn Harps at Oriel Park sealed the title. The result sparked jubilant celebrations in Oriel Park, with the home crowd witnessing a moment of redemption and reward for months of consistency and resilience. Longford Town’s dramatic win over Cobh Ramblers on the same evening ensured that the race was mathematically over, sparing any final-day tension between the division’s top two sides.

While the pressure is now off, Ciarán Kilduff’s men will still be determined to finish their campaign on a high, with tomorrow’s fixture offering a chance to underline their dominance by completing a clean sweep over their closest challengers.

📉 Cobh Ramblers Form

Cobh Ramblers, meanwhile, have every reason to hold their heads high after an excellent season. They sit second on 69 points, seven behind Dundalk, and have been the only side capable of keeping pace for much of the campaign. Their recent form has been mixed, with three wins and two defeats from their last five outings, including impressive victories over Treaty United, Finn Harps, and Bray Wanderers. However, last week’s 3-2 defeat to Longford Town ended their faint hopes of catching Dundalk. Still, with Barry Coffey leading the division’s scoring charts on 26 goals, eight ahead of his nearest rival, Mikie Rowe, Cobh will be eager to end their home season on a high and build momentum for the upcoming promotion play-offs.

⚔️ Previous Meetings

For Dundalk, this match represents an opportunity to reaffirm their superiority, having already beaten Cobh three times this season. The first meeting at Oriel Park back in April was settled by an own goal from Jonas Hakkinen, while a 2-1 victory in Cobh followed in May, courtesy of early strikes from Gbemi Arubi and Daryl Horgan before Shane Griffin’s free kick gave the hosts hope. The most recent encounter in August saw Arubi’s spectacular acrobatic effort in the 13th minute secure all three points, a moment that encapsulated Dundalk’s attacking quality and composure under pressure.

🗣️ Kilduff’s Preview

Speaking ahead of the trip to St Colman’s Park, Ciarán Kilduff reflected on the importance of maintaining standards even with the title already secured.

This is obviously our first game as league champions and we want to make a good account of ourselves. We know what we achieved last weekend but there's still football left to be played this year and every time we take to the pitch in the Dundalk jerseys we have a responsibility to perform and play well. Our support have been amazing all year and I think we owe that to hold our standards of professionalism as high as we can.

Kilduff acknowledged the challenge posed by the opposition, who have been their nearest competitors all season.

Playing the team who will finish second, who've chased us all year and they're a really good team with some really good players and are well coached and managed so it'll be a really tough game but we'll be looking after ourselves. It'll be an opportunity for our players maybe to get minutes who need them and deserve them so we're looking for a good performance. We should be fresh, we should be eager and ready to play and hopefully we can go down to Cobh and finish the season on a high. We know what we've achieved this season has been amazing and we're very proud but we'll be looking for three more points to add to our tally and to finish on a proper high.

📋 Team News

Kilduff confirmed that Dundalk have picked up a couple of injury concerns ahead of the trip, with Mayowa and Daryl Horgan both carrying knocks that will be monitored closely. Players returning from international duty, including Sean Spaight, TJ Molloy, Eoin Kenny, and Vinnie Leonard, will also be assessed ahead of kick-off after a busy week away with their respective squads. Aside from that, the manager reported a clean bill of health, with the rest of the squad fit, available, and ready to go.

🏆 SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division – Matchday 35

⚽ Cobh Ramblers vs Dundalk FC

📍 St Colman’s Park

📅 Friday, October 17, 2025

⏰ 7.45PM kick-off

Get Tickets Here!