Cobh Ramblers part company with boss Darren Murphy and backroom team

LEAGUE OF IRELAND First Division side Cobh Ramblers have confirmed that they have parted company with manager Darren Murphy and his backroom team.

The Cork club described the parties’ parting of ways as ‘amicable’ and thanked Murphy and his staff for “their integrity, love for the club, their very hard work and their consistent desires to improve performances and results.”

Rams confirmed that an interim manager will be appointed in the coming days while the club’s board undergo a recruitment process for Murphy’s permanent successor.

Cobh are winless in their last eight games, losing six and conceding 26 goals over that two-month period. Murphy felt obliged to apologise to fans following last Friday week’s 5-2 defeat at bottom club Athlone but last night proved the final straw, Cobh falling 3-0 at home to Wexford.

They have won twice and picked up three draws in 18 league games this season and currently sit eighth — second from bottom — four points clear of Athlone but eight points shy of Bray Wanderers in seventh.

Former Rams and Cork City midfielder Murphy, who also spent five years as a player in England’s lower leagues, was promoted from his role as Cobh’s U19 boss in the summer of 2021 on an interim basis, replacing Stuart Ashton.

Ramblers finished the 2021 campaign strongly with three wins from three and Murphy was consequently given the job on a permanent basis, signing a contract until 2023 which has been cut short following Cobh’s recent poor run of form.