Season Review 2020: Cabinteely

Team: Cabinteely

Manager: Pat Devlin

Top Scorer: Shane Barnes (5 league goals).

Stadium: Stradbrook.

Highest Attendance: 501 (4-2 win v Bray Wanderers, Friday 21 February).

Lowest Attendance: 0.

Star Player: Jonny Carlin

Former Finn Harps under-19 defender Jonny Carlin asserted himself as one of the hottest defensive properties in the First Division this season.

After a breakthrough 2019, Carlin pushed on to become one of the key men in Pat Devlin’s sides backline following the departure of Jack Tuite.

The 24-year-old Donegal native made 16 appearances for the Green and White’s as they ultimately missed out on another shot at the playoffs.

But following the departure of captain Conor Keeley, Carlin has shown he has the potential to step up to the mark in the absence of a key defensive player, and he may do that again in 2021 should he re-sign.

Best Young Player: Shane Barnes.

After Shane Barnes scored his fifth goal of the season in August – it looked as if there was no stopping Cabo’s new striking star in 2020.

But despite his early season form, Barnes was unable to recreate his goalscoring form. But that should not take away from a stellar year for the ex-Wexford striker.

It was his goals that almost propelled Cabo into the playoffs. He made 16 appearances for Pat Devlin’s side in 2020 – and with a number of goals and appearances to his name – he has the potential to push on again next season.

Best New Signing: Michael Kelly

After a two-year spell away from Cabinteely – Michael Kelly made a dream start to life back at the club he called home previously.

Kelly helped Cabo on their way to three clean sheets and a position at the summit of the First Division table – but his injury suffered against Longford Town proved to be the downfall of both his and Cabinteely’s season.

Without Kelly, Cabo picked up just one clean in their last 11 league games of the season – as Cabo went from top of the table to 7^th in the space of two months.

What we expected they would do: 5th

Up until Wexford won their arbitration hearing two day’s after the season finished – we got Cabinteely’s league prediction correct. But that wasn’t to be, and they eventually came 7^th.

What they actually did:

First Division

Cabinteely enjoyed a dream start to the 2020 First Division season as they took an incredible four-nil first-half lead at home to local rivals Bray Wanderers on the opening night of the season.

And it got even better after that – with wins over Athlone Town and Shamrock Rovers II seeing Cabo go top of the pile after three games.

The Covid-19 shutdown could not have come at a worse time, but Cabo maintained their early season momentum when football resumed in July.

Their highpoint of the season undoubtedly came during their emphatic 3-1 win away to Longford Town – but that victory at Bishopsgate saw goalkeeper Mick Kelly suffer injury.

Even at that stage, if you said that Cabo’s season would see them miss out on a playoff by virtue of an arbitration hearing – chances are you would have been scoffed at.

But it was from then onwards when the wheels fell off. Costly defeats at home to UCD, Longford Town and Wexford scuppered whatever hopes they had of winning the title.

They did of course win late on away to Cobh Ramblers at St Colman’s Park in a rare moment of light towards the end of the season – but it was not enough.

Defeats against both Galway and UCD (away) put Cabo at risk of missing out altogether on a Playoff spot – and they eventually did – albeit two days after the season finished.  

The bombshell news of them missing out of the First Division Playoffs compounded a wretched few months for Pat Devlin’s side – leaving them wondering what could and should have been.

FAI Cup

There was no real feeling of what could have been for Cabinteely in the FAI Cup as they were easily dispatched by Bohemians in the second-round.

Pat Devlin’s charges were undone by a brace of assists from teenager Dawson Devoy who set up both Promise Omochere and Dinny Corcoran to give the Gypsies a comfortable win.

They did however produce a much better second-half display, but it was nowhere near enough to bring them back into the tie as Bohs reached the last-eight of the FAI Cup.

What they need to improve on for next year:

On the whole, it was a challenging year both on and off the pitch for Cabinteely who were looking to build on a breakthrough 2019 campaign.

While they missed out on their ultimate target of promotion to the top-flight, there remains several points of optimism for 2021.

Players such as Zak O’Neill, Vilius Labutis and Shane Barnes all impressed at times – with the latter being Cabo’s top scorer for 2020.

The Green and White’s will however be acutely aware that they need to plug the gaps that were glaringly obvious towards the end of their league campaign.

Like many teams in both the Premier and First Division’s, a prolific goalscorer may be the difference between success and failure next season – but they will also need extra bodies in other areas of the pitch.

Defensive cover for the departing Conor Keeley will be required – but overall, the task remains quite simple for Cabo for 2021.

If they could manage to recruit a prolific goalscorer – or produce one themselves – and stay clear of costly injuries, they may have a chance of doing something special.