2021 Season Preview: Cabinteely

Manager: Pat Devlin.

Stadium: Stradbrook.

Players in: Niall Barnes (Longford Town), Sean McDonald, Luke McWilliams (Bluebell United), Andy O'Brien (Greystones United), Ben Hanrahan (UCD - LSL), Adam Hayden (Bray Wanderers), Jordan Payne (Bluebell United), Deane Watters (Warrenpoint Town), Luca Gratzer (Drogheda United).

Players out: Conor Keeley (Ballymena United), Shane Barnes (Athlone Town), Jonny Carlin (Athlone Town), Steven Kinsella (Bray Wanderers), Paul Fox (Wexford), Corey Chambers (Cobh Ramblers), Michael Kelly (Longford Town), Jack Connolly (Wexford), Christian Lotefa, Dylan Thornton, Ryusei Kojima, Kaito Akimoto, Andrew Byrne, Aaron Byrne, Sean Fitzpatrick.

Extratime.ie Key Man: Kieran Marty Waters

Heading into his fifth year at Cabinteely, former Shamrock Rovers forward Kieran Marty Waters is likely to be the key man in Pat Devlin’s squad for 2021.

Devlin has once again opted for a young core group at the club – so the experience and contributions of Marty Waters will prove telling when needed.

As usual, the 30-year-old will probably lead the line for Cabo this season – and he will be looking to strike up another partnership with the likes of a Luke Clucas or a Sean McDonald.

But overall, Marty Waters will be a key weapon for Cabinteely – as they look to be come into the season under the radar, again.

Extratime.ie One to Watch: Jack Hudson

Cabinteely central defender Jack Hudson missed the vast majority of the 2020 season with injury, so he will be hopeful that he can have an injury free 2021 at least.

Should the young defender come through his injury woes, there is no reason why he cannot assert himself as one of the most promising defenders in the First Division this year.

The former Cabinteely schoolboy has not played a senior competitive game since March 2020 – but he looks primed to make his mark on the Cabo first-team in 2021 – just as he did in 2019.

How they did last season:

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 (home) 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 with relative ease.

What to expect this season:

As is often the case, Pat Devlin’s Cabinteely side will be coming into the 2021 season as rank outsiders in terms of the promotion picture.

The South Dubliners have lost a number of their key players from last season in Conor Keeley, Shane Barnes and Jonny Carlin – although they have retained midfield trio Alex Aspil, Zak O’Neill and Vilius Labutis which is a boost.

After falling away in such devastating fashion last term, Cabo will be looking to right the wrongs of a disastrous end to last season – we all know what happened there…

Devlin’s charges will also be buoyed by the arrival of Collie O’Neill to the club’s backroom team – with the ex-UCD boss replacing former first-team coach Graham O’Hanlon.

Cabo’s Leinster Senior League recruits are shrewd – so it should be no surprise should they be able to easily make the step up to the senior ranks – with no less than three joining from there.

The goalkeeping situation at the club will also be interesting – with five players vying for the one jersey in Harry Halwax, Adam Hayden, Luca Gratzer, Peter Quinlan and Ben Clark.

Halwax of course joins the club from Derby County, while Luca Gratzer makes the move from recently promoted Drogheda United. Hayden joins from local rivals Bray Wanderers.

Besides that, Cabo will be acutely aware that they face a real challenge if they are to clinch a playoff position.

But Pat Devlin is no stranger to causing an upset or two – as many in the League of Ireland know all too well of – so perhaps some sort of a promotion charge is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Title Odds: 33/1.

First game: Wexford (away).