LAST year we told you to lock up your daughters, this time you’d better lock up your sons too! It’s that time of the year again folks; the annual Ranelagh Gaels 12 Pubs of Christmas is just around the corner.

The Gaels’ 12 Pubs sets on its voyage on Saturday 18th of December from Devitt’s pub on Camden street at 4pm and finishing up in Symths Pub in Ranelagh at an estimated time of 10:15pm.

Last year’s highlights included one Gael dressed as Mrs Claus in The Hill, Humpty Dumpty falling at the Canal outside The Barge and an unreal amount of ladies recruitment which didn’t actually materialise in to much.

No point getting too technical with it – it’s one drink in each pub. All players who have polo shirts should wear them and everybody should have a read over the 12 Days of Christmas lyrics which is expected to be sang in each pub. To quote an old Chinese proverb “To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping”.

The Gaels, who were controversially defeated on Tuesday, needed to bounce back swiftly to maintain their dwindling promotion challenge, however this was not to be the case.

The hunger and desire shown by Ballinteer, who have been in a relegation battle all season, was evident in the second half when they outscored the Gaels by 14 points.

As irony would have it Ranelagh played some of their best football of the season in the first half.

The backs were outstanding at crowding out the opposition attack with Joe in particular making some great challenges, while the movement of Enda and Timmy at the other end produced some magnificent scores. The Gaels lead by six points to one at half time.

It was clear that after 10 minutes into the second half the Gaels were feeling the effects from Tuesday’s night battle against table topping Stars of Erin and had emptied too much of the tank in the opening 30 minutes.

St John’s were now playing down the hill and made very good use of their bench bringing on four very strong substitutes ten minutes into the second half.

Tadgh and Corky, both making their first league starts in AFL Division 8, tried their damndest in the full back line however the Ballinteer forwards were being sent an excellent supply of ball and this was always going to be telling.

Eventually they got their deserved goal to take the lead and they never looked back.

It’s a new situation the Gaels find themselves in not to have anything to play for over the final four games of the season and this will be a disappointment.

But following two consecutive promotion-winning campaigns the first year at Division 8 cannot be labelled a failure.

Starlights 0-8 Ranelagh Gaels 1-4

RANELAGH Gaels exited the Stacy Cup at the quarter-final stage with away defeat to Starlights on Sunday.

This result follows on from last month’s AFL Division 8 League loss to St Oliver Plunkett’s-Eoghan Ruadh – making this the Gaels first back-to-back defeats in quite some time.

Unfortunately, lessons from that game didn’t appear to have been taken on board at the weekend.

The fluency and swift movement that are so much part of the Gaels’ play failed to materialise yet again.

From the word go, Starlights, playing at their Collinstown Lane home, looked the hungrier team and raced into a four-point lead after 15 minutes.

Ranelagh’s defence did well to stop wave after wave of attack especially since the Gaels won very little ball at midfield as Starlights dominated the breaking ball from both ends.

There were some brief glimpses of the visitor’s traditional game play when Alan Kelly ran onto a decisive pass from Brian Regan to fist the ball over the Starlights keeper.

This was later followed by another point to leave the half time score at 0-6 to 1-2.

However, even a few changes by Liam O’Hagan had little effect as the Gaels continued to make unforced errors.

Poor passing, taking extra time on the ball and poor decision-making all contributed to the Gaels’ downfall.

Starlights with only 15 players to count on never lifted the pressure and with ten minutes left lead by only two points.

A great score by Jer McCarthy meant that there was only one point in it coming down the stretch.

However the forwards’ indecisiveness and tendency to overplay the ball prevented the Gaels from getting that crucial equaliser.

To their credit the Gael’s backline remained solid throughout the match with some great performances put in by Denis Crehan and James Galvin.

Lock up your daughters it’s the Ranelagh Gaels 12 Pubs of Christmas, Saturday 19th December.

Same as last year – just the other way around.

No major rules, only it is vital all players wear the Ranelagh polo tops. If you turn up late you buy a half pint/ shot. No point getting too technical with it.

No restriction on people joining us on our merry path of discovery, soul searching and player recruiting!

Hope to see you all there, including some of the ladies.

Ranelagh Gaels will need to drastically improve in a lot of areas if they are to challenge Erin’s Isle in the AFL Division 9 top of the table clash next week.

The Gaels were completely outplayed / outmaneuvered and outclassed by a committed and lively St Brendan’s team. This challenge game was the chance to see some of fringe players to claim a place in the starting 15, but after last night one could say that almost all positions are up for grabs.

The brilliant diamond combination that Brendan’s utilized (only because the Gaels were completely ineffective in this department) allowed them to constantly attack up through the centre. Ranelagh’s kickouts played into their opponent’s hands, as they won all the breaks and some impressive clean catches. Time and time again the backs were chasing shadows as their opponents outplayed them for every ball.

The use of the ball by Ranelagh was terrible as they constantly put it onto the plate for the Brendan’s lads to feed off. Several inaccurate passes were gobbled up by Brendan’s and allowed them to outscore Ranelagh in the first half by only 3 points – should have been a lot more!! On the night, it was hard to believe that Ranelagh are unbeaten in this league and the Brendan’s have only won one match all year.

One would imagine marking will be the main theme in training over the next few nights, because last night some Gaels didn’t understand the meaning of it especially in the half back line, which saw the Brendan’s centre forward score an impressive 6 points from play. And the usual hassling we associate with the Gaels forwards completely vanished.

On a positive note, no there wasn’t any last night I’m afraid, only lets just hope it was one of those nights and some players will use it to spur them on to improve for the vital fixture next week!

Ranelagh Gaels have been in existence for five years now and to date have been quiet successful both on and off the field. This year we are keen to set up a ladies team with the hope of laying down the foundations this year and a desire to have a competitive team in 2010.

On March 30th at Smyth’s Pub, Ranelagh Gaels held our first Ladies football team meeting to see the initial level of interest. It was a massive success with 15 names signing up immediately. To date we have 21 members signed up……….but we are still looking for more players

What has happened so far

• We began training in April, one night a week in UCD just before the lads team.
• After this initial phase it is our desire to run off some challenge games and possible mini tournaments in the summer.
• 2010 will be the year the women’s team becomes competitive.

How could you get involved with the Gaels

• Setting up a Women’s team in the area would be a massive success for the club and should lead to further potential developments. Underage teams with schools is an idea.
• We would have two teams supporting each other which would only enhance the clubs potential success.
• Sponsorship nights for both codes of teams – bigger nights, working together to succeed.
• Become a member of the committee and help enhancing the clubs profile around the catchment area.

If your interested then leave a comment on this page and we’ll contact you about training or any interest you may have getting invovled in the Ladies Team.

AFL Division 9 – Round 1

Ranelagh Gaels 0-11 – 1-2 Raheny

The Gaels got off to a flattering win in their first game in AFL Division 9 yesterday. The first half was perhaps the poorest display by the Gaels all season but the lads regrouped well at half time lead by an inspirational speech by Radsale which saw them outscore Raheny by 7pts in the second half.

The first half was all one way traffic by Raheny, luckily for the Gaels, Raheny had a Ronan O’Gara off day with their chances and should have finished the game in the opening 20mins. At half time it was hard to believe the Gaels were only down by one point. 1-2 to 4 points.

The 2nd half was some contrast. As the Gaels’ backs continued to hold their own and prevented the Raheny forwards from getting any score, in particular there were some great displays by D Crehan and J Daly, with J Wren a continuous threat down the wing. The forwards began to move the ball with a sense of urgency and with some good passages of play, Ranelagh began to get the vital scores. With J Conlon in exceptional form with his free taking Ranelagh ended up winning comfortably in the end.

Afterwards Liam O’ Hagan stressed the importance of playing from the start “(but) a much more committed performance in the 2nd half”.John Daly was nominated as Man of the Match for his excellent man marking.

Finally, it was (easily) decided to nominate Brian O’Reagan as captain of the Gaels for the rest of the season. Well done Brian.

This weekend the Gaels are in action in the next round of the Sheridan Cup.

St Marys S v Ranelagh Gaels

Saggart, 11:00am 08/03/2009

The Gaels played their first game in Bushy Park on Sunday and added another win to their good start to the season. With several regular players missing in action it was up to the old realibles with some new faces and some old (lawro is back!) to put in a convincing display.

Goals from Johnny and Jer ensured the victory with some good point taking from J.Kilkenny and Tiernan. With Big Denis and Hard hitting Ross in the full back line, Rouse kept a well earned clean sheet.

Come out and support the Gaels this weekend as they turn their attention to the first round of AFL 9 where they welcome Raheny to Bushy Park.

Ranelagh Gaels v Raheny

Bushy Park, Sunday 1st March @ 3pm

The Gaels commenced 2009 with a well deserved win over Ballyboden St. Endas last Sunday. Conditions were ideal which contributed to a fast free flowing game. The Gaels half back line out classed their counter parts from the start and supplied plenty of quality possession to Enda Marren and Ronan Murphy to capitalise on.

Further frees from Ronan Rasdale left the Gaels leading 1-07 to 4 points at half time. Ballyboden hit back after half time with a number of points to bring them within two points.

However the Gaels superior fitness and hunger saw them pile on the pressure with a fantastic individual display by man of the match Enda Marren who ended the game with six points from play. This was a great result considering the Gaels were down a number players.

In the next round of the cup the Gaels will play Templeogue SS in Bush Park, Sunday at 15:00pm.

After the heart-breaking promotion defeat against Ballyboughal last week, Ranelagh Gaels thought it was another year in Division 10 South, however the CCC told the ‘legend’ Liam O’Hagan today that they are to be promoted as best losers.

The Gaels are still on the look out for any news players who would be interested in playing or training with us this year as we try and win Division 9 at the first attempt. See Training tab for more details.