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.

This weekend the Gaels travel to Collinstown Lane to take on Starlights in the Stacy Cup quarter-final, throw-in 11.0.

And then the following Sunday Portobello visit Bushy Park in the first round of the Dublin Junior C Football Championship so there is much at stake in the coming days.

Ranelagh have had a good start to 2010, though some of the results and performances have been mixed.

The pressure is on the team given the great performance by the club’s ladies footballers on Wednesday, when they won their first ever competitive match.

The lads won’t want to let the side down so they will be looking to record two important wins.

Click on the following link for directions to Collinstown Lane.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Old+Airport+Road,+Dublin,+Ireland&sll=53.421809,-6.248989&sspn=0.035343,0.111494&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Old+Airport+Rd,+Santry,+County+Fingal,+Ireland&z=15

St Magarets 0-4 Ranelagh Gaels 5-11

RANELAGH Gaels got their first win of the season on Sunday when they blew St Margaret’s away in the Stacy Cup.

Gaels had lost one and drawn their opening games of the year so it was third time lucky as they emerged convincing winners in this away tie at the ALSAA Sports Complex near Dublin Airport.

The win keeps Ranelagh’s interest in the competition alive and with three points from three matches in the group stages they are through to the quarter-finals.

The visitors raced into an early lead thanks to early scores from Tiernan ‘Stella’ McNamara and Jer McCarthy.

The experienced Joe Davitt, a recent recruit to the club and a massive addition, hit a brilliant score from centre half back to widen the gap.

Gaels led 3-5 to 0-1 at the break and the contest was as good as over. The Kelly brothers were linking up well and Thomas was prominent despite suffering from a stomach bug during the week.

They extended their advantage early in the second half when Michael Power finished of a cracking move with a great shot to the corner of the Magartets net.

Conor Harnett in the centre of the pitch was the stand out player and he continually drove his team on in search of more scores.

Ranelagh’s performance bore all the hallmarks of the football that manager Liam O’Hagan encourages his team and he will be hoping for more as the AFL Division 8 Season gets into full swing in the coming weeks.

Click on the following link for directions, ALSAA is about a 25 minute drive from the City Centre.

The game in North County Dublin throws in at 12.30 on Sunday afternoon and is a must-win for the visitors.

Having drawn one and lost one of their two cup games to date they need to get maximum points to keep alive their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages.

Gaels had no match last weekend as the AFL Division 8 opener against St Patrick’s of Palmerstown was cancelled due to unplayable pitches.

Lifts for players from Ranelagh will be available on Sunday – check the website later in the week for details.

Ranelagh Gaels responded to last week’s defeat with a hard-earned point which leaves them in with a chance of reaching the knockout stages of the Stacy Cup.

As it has done since the turn of the year, the weather continued to play havoc with GAA fixtures; Saturday night’s snow showers left the Bushy Park turf soft underfoot and provided a stern test for both sets of players.

The Gaels took time to settle and had goalkeeper Conor O’Droma to thank for keeping them within touching distance of their opponents from north Co Dublin. O’Droma was excellent under the high ball as St Maurs kicked several efforts short, failing to make their early dominance show on the scoreboard.

Ranelagh eventually began to compete around the middle with Conor seeing more of the ball at midfield. The pair were driving forward at every opportunity and the chances started to come.

The pressure was rewarded when the referee signalled for a penalty; Enda’s pile-driver clipped the bar and registered a point. Soon after though a green flag was raised and the team went in at the break a point to the good.

After a sloppy start to the first half, it was a similar story in the second as last season’s Division 9 winners took time to get into their stride. The game remained a tight affair however as the backs put in a good display, hassling and harrying the Maur’s forwards throughout. Joe at centre-back put in a superb display and was the source of many Gaels attacks.

The long ball was being utilised much more in the second half and with the conditions as treacherous as they were there was always going to be chances created. The Gaels found themselves two points down heading into the final few minutes but an Alan Kelly free and an equaliser from substitute Ronan ensured their efforts were not in vain.

The serious business starts next week with the Division 8 league campaign getting underway.

www.stmaursgaa.ie

St Maur’s from North County Dublin are the visitors to Bushy Park on Sunday, February 21, for the second round of group games in the Stacy Cup.

Throw-in is at 11.0 and all support from Ranelagh for your local GAA club would be warmly welcomed.

The Gaels lost their first competitive game of the year against Naomh Barrog in Kilbarrack last weekend, but there were plenty of positives from the opening match of the campaign against higher division opponents.

Several new players performed well and the Gaels didn’t look out of their depth against a team from two tiers higher on the footbal ladder – in fact it was a game they could have won.

However, a win this weekend is essential if Ranelagh want to progress to the knock-out stages of the Cup.

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.