Ranelagh Gaels 1-10 Erin Go Bragh 2-05

Ranelagh Gaels recovered from Tuesday’s bitterly disappointing defeat to Ballyboden with a hard-fought and well deserved victory over Erin Go Bragh in Hazelbury Park.

A last minute goal robbed them of victory at home against Boden earlier in the week, but it was the Gaels this time who hit the net late on to take both points on Sunday.

Gaels elected to play with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half and they got quickly out of the blocks with scores from Enda, ‘The Doc‘ and the in-form Johnny Conlon to take an early four-point lead.

The Gaels learnt from their mistakes of Tuesday night by hitting low ball into the forward line with players supporting the man in possession very well all over the pitch.

Gaels dominated the midfield exchanges with Conor and Brian winning a lot of clean ball, and Timmy and Joe getting through an amount of work by successfully winning the breaks.

Gaels added further points from Eamon and Enda, before suffering a blow when they conceded of a sloppy goal. The high ball into the full back line wasn’t dealt with effectively with one of the home team forward flicking the ball to the net.

Gaels showed the character which this team is full of by scoring the last two points of the half to take a 0-09 to 1-01 lead at the break

The Erin Go Bragh opened the second half with a flurry of unanswered points. They gained the upper hand in the midfield exchanges with the strong breeze playing an important part in the game.

Liam O’Hagan moved Jer to half-forward line where he began to exert more of an influence over the game, winning a number of important kick-outs which helped ease the pressure on an over worked Gaels back line.

A decisive moment came when Erin Go Bragh were reduced to 14 men when  one of their players was sent off for a high challenge on John Daly.

By this stage Ranelagh led by just a solitary point. Worse was to follow for the Gaels with the concession of another goal.

Despite this set back, Gaels showed resilience, determination and fighting spirit to get back into the match. Martin Egan was moved to midfield, as the Gaels spare man, and his first contribution was to catch a great kick-out to set up the score of the game. Once in procession, Martin gave the ball to Conor, who ran at the heart of the Erin Go Bragh defence.

The Kerry man was going to take his point, but noticed Timmy in a better position. Timmy collected a great hand pass and rifled a low shot into the corner of the net, past a despairing Erin Go Bragh keeper. This was a great score and put the Gaels back into the driving seat. Johnny Conlon, showed his class once again, with a great point to close out the game for the Gaels.

Best for Gaels on the day were Joe, Conor, Timmy , Johnny Conlon and Jer.

A rallying third win for the Gaels in Division 8, which puts the club back in the promotion race. The Dublin GAA scene is shutting down for the next two weeks which gives Liam and Ronan time to work on some of the weaknesses that Erin Go Bragh exposed during the course of the game.

Gaels return to action with league tie on June 15th. More details to follow.

After the game Joe attended the hospital to check out his ankle, no breakage but he’ll be out for  a few days.