Limerickman helps Fleetwood Town dump Arsenal out of EFL Cup

LIMERICK’S own Ronan Coughlan has played a huge hand in one of the biggest shocks of the football season as his Fleetwood Town knocked Premier League champions Arsenal out of the EFL Cup.

Fleetwood hosted Arsenal in Round 4 of the competition and were overwhelming underdogs heading into the game.

However, they took the lead through Aaron Loupalo-Bi before Arsenal drew level thanks to Viktor Gyokeres in the second half.

The game finished 1-1 and went to penalties. Coughlan was first up for Fleetwood and slotted his penalty to give them the lead in the shootout.

Both sides scored their next three penalties before Arsenal’s Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes failed to hit the target.

Northern Ireland’s Conor Haughey then stepped up to score the winning penalty for Fleetwood that sealed one of the biggest shocks in the competition history.

Coughlan joined Fleetwood in January 2024 following a superb season with Waterford that yielded an incredible 37 goals.

He began his career at Limerick FC as a 16 year old after playing schoolboy football with Mungret Regional. He was a member of the Limerick Regional Emerging Talent Centre and won local league cups from U-11 to U-16 and holds local league medals at U-11 and 12.

Coughlan represented Munster in the FAI U-17 Interprovincial Tournament in Wexford in 2012/13 season and played for Limerick’s under 17s and under 19s.

The Limerick man moved to Huddersfield Town from Limerick FC in July 2014 where he spent three years.

On his return to Ireland, Coughlan spent a season at both Bray Wanderers and Cork City before a move to on loan to Sligo Rovers.

Coughlan then spent three seasons at St Patrick’s Athletic, where he won the FAI Cup, and then headed to Waterford for a year. Then came the move back to England and Fleetwood.

He described that FAI Cup win as one of his most memorable at that time but being involved in the shock win over Arsenal must now rank highly on his list.