In the intermediate football clash on Sunday another close encounter erupted -- only pity was no one was in the forest to hear the crashes all day.
With Armagh defeating Long Island on Saturday night, it looks like a race is on for second place and this fixture pitted two of the sides that want that mantel and a shot in the playoffs at the Orchard County.
Eoin Delaney and Sean Reilly swapped early points for their respective sides before Ronan Caffrey had the second Rangers score. Delaney was already showing his ability and was a thorn in the Saints side.
Good work by Delaney set up Caffrey for a point before Emmitt Doherty broke a tackle for a score. Dion Norney did pull one back for Barnabas after good support play by Liam Deane, but intelligent football from Doherty and Delaney ended with the latter firing over.
St. Barnabas started to come into the game with Shane Hogan prominent, but scores were hard to come by as the Rangers defense with Donnacha O’Dwyer excellent, stopping a number of chances.
On a feed from the back Rangers created an opportunity in the box but Emmett Doherty was brought to the ground for a penalty. Conor Hunter clinically dispatched the spot kick to the corner for a 1-4 to 0-2 lead.
From the kick out Doherty returned the ball over the lathe to increase the lead with 10 minutes left in the period. But Barnabas rebounded as Adrian Wynne came off the bench. Deane had a shot cleared off the line, before a Shane Flanagan pass set up Wynne for a score. Further scores from Wynne and Reilly narrowed the gap but Sean O’Neill in his second game of the day gave Rangers a three point lead at the break, 1-6 to 0-6.
On resumption both sides hit three points in the first fifteen minutes. Kevin McArdle was called upon to save from Ronan Caffrey, before Liam Deane had a shot cleared off the line at the opposing end.
Michael Sheridan extended the lead to four points as he was introduced off the bench, but a surging run by Shane Hogan was stopped when he was fouled in the box for the second penalty of the game.
Sean Reilly buried the kick to leave just a point between the sides. With time running down, St. Barnabas threw the proverbial kitchen sink at it but their best chance was a call for a free when Conor Hogan appeared to be fouled. No call however, and Rangers survived but just for the win.
St. Barnabas: 1 Kevin McArdle, 2 Frankie McDermott, 3 James Mullen, 4 Kevin Callen, 5 Conor Hogan, 6 Shane Hogan, 7 Steve Gomez, 8 Niall Croke, 9 Brian Givney, 10 Sean Reilly (1-5), 11 Luke Barrett, 12 Liam Deane (0-2), 13 Tom McGovern, 14 Dion Norney (0-1), 15 Shane Flanagan. Subs: Adrian Wynne (0-2), Eddie Hogan, Matt Schumacher.
Rangers: 1 Aidan Tansey, 2 Philip McCarthy, 3 Donnacha O’Dwyer, 4 Cian McGowan, 5 Conor Hunter (1-0), 6 Ross McGowan, 7 Derek Courtney, 8 Sean O’Neill (0-2), 9 John Power, 10 Barry Walsh, 11 Diarmuid Murphy, 12 Eoin Delaney (0-2), 13 Ronan Caffrey (0-3), 14 Emmett Doherty (0-3), 15 Conor Devins. Sub: Mike Sheridan (0-1).
Referee: Peter McCormack.
Man of the Match: Emmett Doherty (Rangers).
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