Rangers glide into knockout stages in style
GLYDE Rangers eased into the knockout stages of the Junior Football Championship thanks to a nine-point victory over a spirited Naomh Malachi outfit in a tempestuous match at Louth Village last Thursday evening.
The Tallanstown outfit, who raced into a six-point lead inside the opening quarter, were never headed in a contest where Brian Duffy and Niall Sharkey were to the fore. Indeed, but for their large tally of 13 wides the margin of victory would have been much greater.
This Group B clash was played in slippery conditions and the men in sky blue settled the quicker and opened the scoring inside 60 seconds through a Trevor O’Brien free kick.
Full forward Brian Duffy opened his account in the sixth minute and this was quickly added to by a brace of scores from placed balls by Niall Sharkey.
Conor Sheridan was next to find the range with a closerange effort, and when O’Brien claimed his second point on the quarter-hour mark the mid Louth side were six points in front.
Shane Rogers claimed the opening score for the Mals with a long-range effort, but his side were dealt a blow when talisman Collie Rooney left the field of play with a suspected broken collarbone.
However, the influential David Devanney also had to go off for Glyde and the border side were given a glimmer of hope were their opponents lost Sheridan to a black card following an earlier yellow, and he could not be replaced.
Pierce Caherty subsequently narrowed the gap with a curling effort in the 25th minute, but it was the Division 3 table-toppers who finished stronger in the half, with points from Barry and Niall Sharkey and a brace from the impressive Duffy to make it 0-10 to 0-2.
Gavin Duffy stretched the lead after the interval with a well-taken point and when he goaled past Mals netminder Niall Bird in the 43rd minute the Glyde men held a commanding 11-point advantage.
The Courtbane outfit didn’t wilt and a fine effort from Caherty reduced the arrears somewhat before their numerical advantage was wiped out as wing half Peter McShane was dismissed in the 45th minute for a challenge on Alan Brennan.
Mals were given a lifeline soon after when Glyde goalkeeper David Brennan was adjudged to have handled the ball on the ground inside the small rectangle, and up stepped Ronan Greene to slot home for a goal.
However, a placed ball from O’Brien and a point from wing forward Alan Brennan put paid to any hope of a comeback.
Caherty claimed his third point of the contest before veteran Mark Meegan slotted over his side’s fifth point as the Mals finished strongly.
The impressive Niall Sharkey and John Myles sandwiched a late effort from Meegan as the Glyde men ran out comfortable winners to leave the Mals and St Nicholas to fight it out for the remaining qualifying place in Group B.
GLYDE RANGERS: David Brennan; Peter Duffy, Cein Sheridan, Gerard Farrell; Niall Sharkey 0-4 (1f, 1 45’), Mark O’Brien, Conor McCullagh; Ciaran Sheridan, David Devenney; Aaron Devlin, Conor Sheridan, Alan Brennan 0-1; Trevor O’Brien 0-3 (2f), Brian Duffy 0-4, Gavin Duffy 1-1. Subs: Barry Sharkey 0-1, Niall Bird, John Myles 0-1, Jason Dullaghan, JP Boyle.
NAOMH MALACHI: Niall Bird; David Begley, David Rogers, Sean Gogarty; Peter McShane, Ronan Greene 1-0 (pen), Stephen Burns; Ronan McElroy, Pierce Caherty 0-3; Emmet Mullen, Shane Rogers 0-1, Donal Begley; Collie Rooney, Padraig Moley, Jamie Kelly. Subs: Noel Donaldson, Mark Meegan 0-2, Conor Gonnelly, Eamonn Agnew.
REFEREE: Noel Hand