Rangers dominate disappointing Bagenalstown
Donagh Murphy from MLR takes a big tumble against Bagenalstown Gaels on Saturday in the SHC.
EVENTS towards the end of this senior hurling championship fourth round tie at Netwatch Cullen Park bring back memories of a story which rugby referee, Dan Carbery, told. There is a fair chance that the former world class athlete and Provincial Towns Cup winner was talking about himself too.
Anyway, a player was vexed with a number of decisions which were not going his team’s way.
The referee (Carbery?) waved the protestations aside.
“I referee the game as I see it,” he told the player who was having none of it and came back with a quick reply.
“Fair enough ref but you’re seeing F*** A**.” This story came to mind as the final whistle approached on Saturday. Bagenalstown had already been reduced to fourteen after substitute, Mark McDonald, had been red-carded only minutes earlier. There was another exchange between a number of players and as a Rangers player retreated, the Bagenalstown Gaels centre-half, Darragh Nolan, pulled the helmet off Tim Brennan.
The incident took place in full view of the match officials but yet no further action was taken. The Bagenalstown player had already dodged a bullet in the first half for a clothes-line tackle which earned him a yellow card which so easily could have been red.
The whole scenario is a continuation of the bad blood which exists between the two clubs. Admittedly it takes two to tango but when it comes to red cards in matches between the two sides the Bagenalstown side have certainly got more.
Overall, Rangers played their opponents off the park. Only in the first quarter was there any semblance of a contest. Rangers were on the board first when Conaill Fitzpatrick took a pass from his captain, Kevin McDonald, and fired over into the O’Hanrahan end of the ground. Ted Joyce converted a free with Jake Doyle replying for the Gaels. Nine and thirteen minutes in there was only a point between them. Craig Doyle had a half a goal chance but Rangers keeper, Dean Grennan, saved. Gradually Rangers pulled away with Dean Tobin, Joyce and Ciarain Kavanagh on the mark. Two more Joyce frees saw Ranger take a 0-12 to 0-5 interval lead. Bagenalstown failed to score in the last 11 minutes of the half.
On the resumption, Jon Nolan, Joyce and Tony Lawlor added points for the Borris side. Now Bagenalstown were only playing for pride and attempting to keep the score difference down. They were failing on both counts.
Grennan kept his line intact with another save. Kealan Guidera and Jamie Clarke did knock over quality points for Bagenalstown but they were living on scraps now. Craig Doyle added a free.
Three points in a row for Bagenalstown. Was this an attempted come-back? Rangers scotched that notion with Joyce, Nolan and Donagh Murphy all finding the posts.
Then came McDonald’s dismissal and it was more of the same as players jostled, mis-timed flicks of the hurl was not uncommon with supporters on both sides hoping there would be only a minimal amount of overtime.
The reigning champions rock on. Bagenalstown Gaels hopes hang on a good performance next week and results going their way elsewhere. With one round of games to go this is not a satisfactory scenario for an ambitious club.
In the lead up to this game, there were high hopes that the challengers were in a good position to cause a shock. After all most of their players have been around a while and can remember beating Rangers a couple of years ago in the semi-final. The Borris side are in a state of transition and were without county men Chris Nolan and Fiachra Fitzpatrick. Yet Bagenalstown Gaels never turned up and Rangers enjoyed a bloodless victory.
Such was the nature of this affair there were few highlights. Rangers might not agree. They won a game easily without scoring a goal and didn’t even look like scoring a three-pointer. Bagenalstown have worries and only scoring 0-9 over the hour is not championship winning material.
