RANELAGH Gaels Ladies team will play their first competitive game of the season tonight against Clanna Gael Fontenoy.

Throw-in for this Division 5B League game at Ringsend Park is at 6:45.

There was disappointment for the ladies last week with a one sided friendly already against Clanna Gael. With so many new ladies coming into the setup and a few to return from the Championship winning side management are looking for a more impressive performance.

Come out and show your support for the ladies on what will a be another exciting year for the club with such a young history.

For directions to Ringsend Park, click HERE

It was the first time that the team had to play two competitive games inside such a short space of time – just three days – but luckily they were both at home and they earned two brilliant results.

First up on Monday was Clanna Gael Fontenoy, which was a high-scoring fixture, and then on Wednesday Robert Emmets visited Bushy Park.

Ranelagh Gaels 8-8
Clanna Gael Fontenoy 6-10

THIS can only be described as one of the craziest and most enjoyable games that you could ever hope to see!

It turned into a complete goal-fest and it was the Gaels that got the scores that mattered.

Of all the goals, Fiona’s last minute top corner rocket not only saved the game for Ranelagh but was also the pick of the day

Unfortunately the RTE cameras weren’t there to show replays because it would easily have been a contender for their Goal of the Season competition.

Gaels got off to the ideal start hitting the net through Kristy, Laoise and Babs.

The toughest challenge for the home side in the first half was getting the ball out of defence and at times lacked the composure to clear there lines.

This handed Clan simple opportunities which they didn’t fail to convert.

Gaels were blessed with stand-in goalkeeper Caoimhe (if you’re interested in playing goals for the Ranelagh Gaels ladies team you can email us on info@ranelaghgaels.ie for more information) as she kept the home them in the game.

The second half tempo stayed the same as both sides exchanged scores, one of the best was Aoife long range effort falling under the cross bar.

Ranelagh Gaels 8-10
Robert Emmets 0-4

AFTER conceding so much on Monday night questions might have been asked of the Gaels defence.

But on Wednesday they answered them all by limiting Robert Emmets to just four points over the hour.

The ladies team are still struggling for a goalkeeper because it is such a tough job but somebody has got to do it.

Kristy stood between the posts for the first half and then moved out to full back for the second. At times the Gaels defence were fantastic at clearing the ball

The final 15 minutes of the game lacked a bit in intensity and Ranelagh were content to pick off their scores and conserve their energy on a hot summer’s day.

Many of the players found themselves playing out of position, but adapted well on a steep learning curve.

RANELAGH Gaels will take plenty of positives from Sunday’s performance despite Stacy Cup defeat to Naomh Barrog.

Heading into this year’s AFL Division 8 campaign – the highest the club has ever operated at – the learning curve was always likely to be a steep on.

But at the weekend they ran Divisoin 6 side Barrog to just two points away from home.

There was no love lost on a bitterly cold Valentines morning, and the conditions were perfect for both teams to start the new season.

With the Gaels regular midfield partnership and several likely replacements out through injury, Barry Prendergast and Tiernan McNamara manned the centre and did well.

Barrog were happy to accept any frees that were conceded within range and this gave them a 1-7 to 1-3 halftime lead.

Ranelagh got their scores through Eamon Courtney, Alan Kelly and 2009 Club Player of the Year Johnny Conlon.

The visitors’ chances were hit in the second half however, when Conlon was forced to go off injured following an unfortunate accidental clash with a team mate.

It was later revealed that Johnny fractured his eye socket and we wish him a speedy recovery.

With the Mestro Paul O’Mahoney back in action and pulling the strings in midfield the scores started to come and the belief was still there.

Points from Doc, Thomas, Paul O’M and Barry meant a chance of a steal for Ranelagh.

Barrog’s chance to kill the game off was stopped when Dave made a super save while at the other end a great chance fell to Pat Polaski who shaved the post.

This is the second week in a row Gaels have showed great determination.

They fought well to come back into a game but a failure to take early chances cost them in the end.

“Trivialities make perfection. Perfection is no triviality.” – Michelangelo.

RANELAGH Gaels lost their first game of the year in a friendly to Kilmacud Crokes at Bushy Park on Sunday, but it was still a good workout before the start of competitive action.

Crokes started the more confident and quickly established themselves on the game.

Within a matter of moments the visitors had notched up points on the scoreboard while the Gaels struggled to get the ball over the bar, which was reflected in the 2-6 to 0-2 scoreline.

With a number of changes by manager Liam O’Hagan in the second half Gaels started to come into the contest.

Kilmacud dropped their tempo at 12 points up, which allowed Gaels opportunities to get back into the game. Both teams had brief spells of dominance in front of goal but failed to convert.

Ranelagh, who have only recently been promoted in to Division 8, managed to hold the Division 7 team to just two points after the break with hard working performances in defence.

Barry Prendergast and Micheal Power showed great efforts in the second half and were amongst the Gaels’ star performance.

It was an ideal game to clear the cobwebs as next week Ranelagh Gaels take to the field in their first competitive game of 2010 with their debut in the Stacy Cup against Naomh Barrog on Sunday 14 (throw-in 11.0).

If you have any questions about joining us or travel arrangements to UCD then please leave you’re comments here or email info@ranelaghgaels.ie

Happy Christmas and New Year from all at the Ranelagh Gaels, Ken demands you stay away from the mince pies, he says it’s for your own good.

Cathal Murphy

Myself Pritchard and a few others watched the match in “The Celtic Club” on the corner of Queen St. and LaTrobe St. in Melbourne, Victoria.

Full of Cork people,they were very smart and noisy at the start but as the game went on they got quieter until at the end they were silent. Good craic was had by all but no real exciting stories from the night. We only took one photo, gordo has it.

Gordo

Timmy O’Keefe

Hurling All-Ireland.

Tried getting into Paddy Macguires of Sydney to watch the game, always great atmosphere for the games there but we left it too late so we strolled up the road to the famous Scruffy Murphys. The Tipp fans were quietly nervous and Kilkenny fans were gloriously shouting from the top of their lungs, “Who is the 2nd best team in Ireland, Kilkenny 2nd Team.

The game started at 12:30 am on Sunday night/Monday morning. The usual suspects were out in Scruffys, neighbours, friends of friends and as time got closer to the game, the Tipp fans were getting louder shouting Tipp Tipp Tipp!!!!!

The craic was subdued compared to Paddy’s and even more subdued to the mayhem that happens when a 5 min clip of Reeling in the Years of Italia 90 in PJ O’Briens on a Sat night.

Tension was high, there was belief that Tipp might throw the mighty Cats off their high horse but once the Cats got their dubous penalty, the so called King Henry slotted one for the four in a row. The shock and horror on the crowds’ faces, Not another Cats win!!!!!

You wanted to see Tipp do it even though a rebel man like myself despises the sight of both a Kilkenny and Tipperary Gimp but you couldn’t see the young lads of Tipp beat the so called legends. The best thing about that game was the crowd pouring on to the pitch after the final whistle, so the famous Plan B had to be put in place. I was dreading another Kilkenny Kerry Victory.

Football All-Ireland

Managed to squeeze into Paddy Macguires of Sydney. It was wedged. I was hoping to see scenes that were witnessed a few months previous to that when Ireland claimed the Grand Slam in the 6 six nations, but I wanted to be part of the celebrations in the red Jersey.

The game kicked off at 12:30am Sunday night/Monday morning. If Cork were victorious a sick day would have been called for!!!!

The boys that I met up with were mostly the lads I had met up with earlier that day at the Sydney Club championship finals of both women’s and men’s hurling and football.

The Craic was mighty, it felt like being on the Blackrock terrace of Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

The chanting were all firing out, Rebels here rebels there, rebels every f##king where and off course The Banks of my own Lovely Lee were sung out proudly.

Just before the throw in, everyone stood up gracefully for the National Anthem.

Once the game kicked off, Cork got straight into it. It was looking like things were going to pan out the similar fashion as the semi final without the sending off of Alan O’Connor. It was a tense fist half, tit for tat. There were no flares between Galvin and O’leary.

The second half kicked off, most of the crowd had dispersed a bit in Paddy’s but I reckon the Kerry fans were outside finishing off their Milky tea and Hang Sandwiches.

Cork had most of the possession in the second half, but wasted it all, Oh where is Colin Corkery when you need him!!!!!!

Final whistle blew, disaster!!!!! The rebels threw it away and in a couple of hours I had to wake up to those that keep nagging me at work, Disaster!!!!!!!!

The best thing the next day was a phone call from Cusacks GAA club in Sydney. I had won a prize of $50. I would have taken the win over the Kingdom ahead of $50. I reckon we will be back again next year though.

John Lawrence

Didnt get to see the match I was in Malysia we did (myself and girlfriend Michelle McGee) a night Nature walk/trek in Tamara Negara national park and although the all Ireland was’nt really in my head the Gaels socks provided my protection from the leaches!!!!

I was dissapointed by the minor all ireland final (with Mayo loosing) but good outlook for the future of mayo football with two U21 finals in last two years !! We’re in Cambodia now and doing some volunteering work in an Orphanage for the next few weeks starting on monday.

Apart from that all good here, keeping up with the Gaels through the website and looking forward to returning to the training and football when I return !

Ronan Murphy

I spent the week in Boston and on the big day found myself racing around a few different pubs to watch the game. I woke early to the sound of text messages from Gaels informing me we had beat Tomas Davis and we had won Division 9 so I was very excited to hit the pints early. While on our pursuit to finding the perfect pub I was disappointed to find that most people seemed more interested in watching Man United against Man City rather than the All-Ireland. This was until I finally got to Green Brian.

The pub had three areas, the main bar in the middle and then 2 separate rooms seated out for Kerry Supporters on one side and Cork in the other. I was with a friend from Cork so as you can imagine the mood in the camp wasn’t great at the end. Bizarrely I met a fella who lived 4 miles down the road from me at home (Newtown, Fermanagh).

As we left the pub half jarred early in the morning a massive parade to promote the Boston Major Elections was on. I tried to stop a few different candidates and I managed to talk to Steve Murphy and on asking him how he felt about “The Kingdom doing one over on the rebels?” He replied, “Sounds good buddy”.

The rest of the day was spent around a few different pubs drinking with lads from Cork who took the days loss in good sprits.

For All You Music Lovers took the crown of Ranelagh Gaels Table Quiz Winners on Thursday 29th October, but a very jubilant I Love Cheese team came second.

The Gaels would like to thank all you togged out for the event and specially those who took part and didn’t know about the event. Thanks to Smyths Pub for putting us up for the night and local business who offered prizes.

Remember you can join the Ranelagh Gaels Mailing List on the sidebar for more infrequent Gaels events and we would be very happy to welcome you.

The winners of raffled tickets for this Sundays Hurling All-Ireland were won by Martin Leonard and Paul Turner. Lets hope for a more entertaining final then last year. Tickets for the Football All-Ireland between Cork and Kerry will be raffled on the Thursday 17th in Smyths Pub Ranelagh. Thanks to all members and associate members for you’re continued support.

If you didn’t know Ranelagh Gaels are playing tomorrow, not in HQ but at Pairc Ui Bhrain in the Division 9 clash with Naomh Olaf. Kick off is from 10:30 so come support your local Ranelagh Gaels.

If you failed to pick up the Evening Herald last Tuesday, you missed the exclusive on The Edge’s twitter page; back pages splashed with Dublin thinking they can beat Kerry, which they haven’t done in over 30 years; Katie Price informing us she wants Julia Roberts to play her in a movie about her life; and of course Ranelagh Gaels win over Brendan’s.

For all our international friends and family all over the world and Dublin you can download it here from the Ranelagh Gaels website, courtesy of the Evening Herald.

Click here to Download.

Does anybody else know any Dublin V Kerry Championship facts?