Laune Rangers Blue 1-8, Austin Stacks 0-4
Laune Rangers Minor Boys Blue team made it two wins from two with victory over Austin Stacks in JP O’Sullivan Park on Saturday afternoon.
Conditions were far from ideal early in proceedings but Rangers got off to a good start, with Stephen Gannon scoring the first point of the game. Tom Garry scored an excellent point from long range before Stacks opened their account with a point. John Burke pointed two frees before Oisín Birmingham scored a super point from distance to see Rangers lead by 0-5 to 0-1 with a quarter of the game played.
Austin Stacks pointed to free to double their tally, but Laune Rangers maintained their excellent form in the first half by adding a pointed free by John Burke and Stevie Gannon. Another pointed free for the visitors saw the hosts lead by four at the break.
Half Time Score:- Laune Rangers Blue 0-7, Austin Stacks 0-3.
Austin Stacks came close to scoring the first goal of the game three minutes into the second half but Harvey Mangan pulled off a super save to maintain Rangers’ cushion on the scoreboard, while Stephen Gannon saw his goal-bound shot saved excellently by the Stacks goalkeeper a few minutes later.
A 40th minute point for Austin Stacks was the sole score for much of the second half, although this didn’t distract from what was a highly entertaining period. Austin Stacks laid siege to the Rangers goal, but the defence held strong to hold them out and force difficult shots that sailed wide.
A 59th minute long range point by Darragh Clifford extended Rangers lead to four and the full forward Clifford reacted quickly to take shoot a free from the edge of the square directly to the net for the insurance goal. A final chance for Stacks saw Harvey Mangan produce a fantastic double save before the final whistle was blown.
Full Time Score:- Laune Rangers Blue 1-8, Austin Stacks 0-4.
The Laune Rangers defence on the day was outstanding, holding their opponents to just two points from play in the game. This was in no small part due to the efforts of Shane Clifford at full back & John Burke at midfield who both led their team excellently.
Laune Rangers Blue:- Harvey Mangan, David O’Brien, Shane Clifford, Tim Mangan, Patryk Radny, Oisín Birmingham (0-1), Joseph O’Neill, Tom Garry (0-1), John Burke (0-3f), Jack Lynch, Rian O’Sullivan, Niall O’Brien, John Tuohy, Darragh Clifford (1-1), Stephen Gannon (0-2). Subs: Gavin Mangan for T Mangan, Devon Hogan for G Mangan, Seán O’Donnell for O’Neill, Seán Diggin for N O’Brien, Logan Foley for Gannon; Colin Griffin, Eoin O’Connell, Ryan Carey, Callum O’Sullivan, Denis McGeever.