Attention turns to the Club Orange Men’s FAI Cup this Friday night as the Blues welcome First Division side Cobh Ramblers to the RSC for our second round meeting, and we have everything you need to know ahead of kick-off.
Waterford FC vs Cobh Ramblers FC
Club Orange Men’s FAI Cup Second Round
Friday 17th July 2026
RSC, Waterford
7:45pm
WATERFORD FC
Graham Coughlan’s side head into Friday’s cup clash against Cobh on the back of picking up seven points from our last three games. Last week’s dramatic 1-1 draw at the RSC against St. Patrick’s Athletic – added to away wins over Dundalk (3-2) & Derry (4-2) have lifted the Blues off the foot of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division table in recent weeks, with Waterford now one point ahead of Sligo Rovers in the league table as we reach the two-thirds way of the 2026 season after 24 games played.
The Blues now enter the Club Orange Men’s FAI Cup at the last-32 stage, along with the other 19 League of Ireland clubs.
Waterford exited last year’s competition at the third round stage with a 2-1 defeat to Cork City at Turners Cross, having defeated Leinster Senior League side St. Mochta’s at the RSC in the second round.
Kick-off is at 7:45pm tomorrow at the RSC, with extra-time & penalties required in the event of a level game after 90 minutes.
COBH RAMBLERS FC
Fran Rockett’s Cobh side travel to the RSC on Friday evening looking to stun the Blues as Cobh face off against Premier Division opposition for the first time this year.
Cobh have had a mixed season to date in 2026, sitting in fifth position in the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division table going into the cup game of Friday, with nine wins from their 23 games played to date this season.
Most recently, the Rams have fell to three consecutive defeats against UCD (0-2), Cork City (0-1) & Athlone Town (0-2), as they look to turn their fortunes around on Friday night.
Blues supporters will welcome familiar faces back to the RSC tomorrow night, with John Frost in the dug-out alongside Fran Rockett, whilst former Blues Anthony Adenopo, Shane Griffin & Mikey Carroll all set to face off against their former clubs.
Ronan Mansfield is currently on loan with Cobh, having joined on loan until the end of the season last week, as he misses the game due to loan agreement of his move to St. Colman’s Park.
WATERFORD FC TEAM NEWS
Evan McLaughlin has returned to training having misses the last few weeks with a foot injury he picked up against Dundalk in May.
Graham Coughlan will have to assess some of his squad ahead of kick-off against Cobh, with a few knocks within the squad this week.
GRAHAM COUGHLAN’S THOUGHTS
“There were plenty positives for us to take away with us last Friday against St. Pats. I said in the changing room after the game let’s concentrate on the performance rather than the result. The result wasn’t what we deserved, the result should have been it a win but it wasn’t. There was a 35/40 second period where we made silly, basic errors which we conceded from. Hopefully we’ve learned from that occasion, and that we can nullify that in the future.
Tomorrow night will be a tough game, and anybody that thinks otherwise may not turn up on Friday night otherwise because we need battlers, we need warriors that are going to roll their sleeves up. Cobh are a really decent team. We’ve watched footage on them this week, and they have a lot in their side that causes issues – particularly at set pieces with their physicality – good forward players & midfielders, so we have to be ready.
These type of games you need to approach properly. You need to have the right mindset & mentality, and we’ll soon be able to tell after the first few minutes of the game an indication of the game. We’re probably favourites for the game – maybe the first time all season we’re favourites going into a game – so that’s a different mindset & mentality, but let me tell you Cobh Ramblers are not coming up here to lie down and to hand us anything. They’re going to come here and scrap and put it up to us, and if we can’t match that then we’ll get done. The players have been told, but we have to trust the players and group we have, which we do. The lads are in a good place, they get the messages we’ve given across to them this week”.
