Cobh look to eclipse old stars

Cobh Ramblers FC are looking for a new claim to fame after the former club of Roy Keane and Westlife's Nicky Byrne won promotion back to the Irish top tier.

Famous names
Most football fans know Cobh as the club that Keane played 29 games for before moving on to Nottingham Forest FC, Manchester United FC and world renown. Pop fans may be more familiar with them because Byrne, a member of boy band Westlife, played eleven games between the posts for Cobh in the 1997/98 season before quitting football for a career in music.

Automatic promotion
Back in the Irish top division for the first time in 13 years, Cobh are now hoping to unveil a new generation of stars, with coach Stephen Henderson relishing the prospect of Premier Division football in 2008 after Cobh – from a town 20km outside of Ireland's second city, Cork – won automatic promotion to the top flight as second tier champions.

New heroes
"People here still talk about the team of 1983, when they were a non-league side but went all the way to the semi-finals of the FAI Cup," said captain Kevin Murray, who scored the only goal of the game on the final day of the season as Ramblers got the win they needed at Athlone Town FC to claim the title. "Hopefully, people will be talking about the team of 2007 from now on."

'Nowhere to train'
Cobh won the title with the youngest squad in the division and one of the smallest budgets, the board having decided to focus investment on developing their St Coleman's Park home. "These kids had nowhere to train at the start of the season," said Henderson. "They had no training equipment, everything was going into the development of the ground. But they didn't moan, they just got down to it and worked hard."

'We will be safe'
Cobh fans, who have not seen Premier Division games at the club since 1995, know that top flight football will be tough, especially as three clubs are to be relegated at the end of the 2008 season, compared to just one in 2007, but club chairman Barry Walsh is confident, saying: "I am not interested in the three clubs going down next year as we won't be one of them, we will be safe from the drop." Finn Harps FC were also promoted last weekend, after beating Waterford United FC 6-2 on aggregate in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off.