Rangers take big step toward league safety
Conn Rangers defender Owen McNamara in front of Liam Hughes with Tuan O’Horo (4). Picture: John Corless
Conn Rangers took another important step towards securing their Super League status with a 3-2 victory over Ballyglass at Mount Falcon on Thursday evening. Although the home side allowed a comfortable first-half lead to be reduced before the interval, they did enough after the break to see out the contest and collect three valuable points.
Rangers made the perfect start, opening the scoring inside the first minute. Colm Ruttledge's delivery into the penalty area caused immediate problems and Adam Gallagher reacted first to turn the ball home, giving Conn an early advantage.
The hosts continued to control the opening stages and doubled their lead 15 minutes later. Owen McNamara found himself unmarked from a corner and made no mistake with his header to leave Rangers firmly in command.
Their positive start continued and Conn added a third goal on the half-hour mark. Gallagher was again in the right place to punish hesitation in the Ballyglass defence, finishing confidently to put Conn 3-0 ahead and seemingly on course for a comfortable evening.
However, Ballyglass refused to let the game drift away and took advantage of two defensive lapses before half time to reduce the deficit.
The first came from a Bryan Walsh free kick after Rangers goalkeeper Ronan Weir was penalised for handling a back pass inside his own area. Ballyglass made the most of the opportunity to cut the lead.
They struck again before the interval when Liam Hughes burst through the unattended Conn defence before finding Ryan Duggan. Duggan's effort was blocked but fell kindly for Hughes, who followed up to make it 3-2 and ensure there was plenty still to play for after the break.
Having surrendered much of their earlier cushion, Rangers knew the next goal would be crucial. In the event, neither side managed to find it.
Conn remained organised defensively during the second half and limited Ballyglass to scraps, while continuing to look dangerous on the attack. Although they were unable to add to their tally, they managed the game well as Ballyglass gradually found the pace difficult to sustain in the warm conditions.
The only real excitement of the second half came midway when tempers briefly threatened to spill over, but referee Jimmy Cawley dealt with the situation quickly and the game settled once again.
The victory lifts Conn Rangers onto 16 points, a tally that has traditionally been enough to secure Super League safety. While the league split means they can no longer climb into the top half, the result represents another positive step for a side that has recovered well after a difficult opening to the campaign.
Ballyglass battled throughout and created several opportunities, including two goals and a free kick that struck the post. However, defensive errors once again proved costly, and they remain searching for the points needed to close the gap on the teams above them in the battle against relegation.
“It was a lot tighter than we thought it was going to be, Colm Rutledge told the Western People after the game. “They defended really well. We found it hard to break them down. It was a warm evening, no breeze, and the ground was hard. I suppose the evening kick-offs on a Thursday, teams can't really prepare for them as well as a weekend game, you know with fellas working on that during the day. It's tougher in the heat. I’m nearly there with my fitness, and today didn't help in the heat. So another couple of games, I'd say, might be thereabouts.
“I suppose we were missing a lot of lads for the first half of the year. We were just starting to get a few lads back from injury and other places, college and everything, so I suppose they're coming back at the wrong time of the year.
“We always knew we were never going to be relegated, but I suppose we didn't think we'd be in the bottom half either. The poor start and struggle with numbers and everything, so that's kind of what killed us the first half of the season. It should be the same team now for the rest of the season.”
Conn Rangers: Ronan Weir; Mikey Burke, Owen McNamara, Tuan O’Horo, Keelan Jordan; Colm Rutledge, Mikey Lowther, Michael Lavin, Adam Gallagher (Cormac Reape 69); Tadgh O’Sullivan, Eoin Prendergast. Subs: Mikey Barrett (for Jordan 46), Cormac Reape (for Gallagher 69).
Ballyglass: Nathan McGurrin; Patrick Burke, Óisin Moran, Scott Hamilton, Colm Tuohy; Ryan Duggan, Darren Murray, Bryan Walsh, James Joyce; Zac Coyne, Liam Hughes. Sub: Ethan Moran (for Burke 80).
REF: Jimmy Cawley.
