February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Pierce O’Reilly
Rangers 2-9, Mayo 0-4
A depleted Mayo outfit, missing at least six regulars, was hammered in the final game of the day at Gaelic Park Sunday. Rangers were much hungrier and their two imports for the weekend, Keith Galvin at center back and Mick O’Keefe at full forward, played havoc in the second half. Mayo’s imports were missing on this occasion and their encouraging performance against Senior "B" favorites Clare two weeks ago is now well forgotten.
The first half was very poor, with both sides guilty of some awful shooting. Mayo were particularly bad in this facet, demonstrating a complete lack of cohesion in front of the posts. Rangers, meanwhile, were dominant from start to finish around the middle, and with Rory Hussey and Mike Bishop finding the target in the opening half, they never looked back.
While the interval score of Rangers 0-4, Mayo 0-3 would suggest a close encounter, the floodsgates completely opened in the second period. Rangers, with O’Keefe now operating farther out the field, piled on the pressure and goals from Dublin senior O’Keefe and Sean Concannon put the game out of Mayo’s sight.
Mayo managed only a solidarity point in the second half, that coming from the boot of Kevin Touhy with five minutes remaining. Denis Twomey, the Rangers’ manager, has his side at the top of the senior "B" division right now, and with several good students in the pipeline, they may prove to be the team to beat later in the summer.
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It’s back to the drawing room for John Burke and trainer James Prenty. The students can’t arrive quickly enough for the Mayo men. If the imports don’t perform with panache and passion, the Westerners may miss the playoff boat.
The sending off of two players from either side midway through the second half marred the game. Stand-in referee Paddy Gormley sent David Collernan and Niall McMahon to the line for Mayo, while Rangers midfielders Mike Bishop and Rory Hussey were also sent for early showers.
Mayo: A. Beaty, J. Burke, P. O’Reilly, S. Burke, J. Dalton, P.Reddington, N. McMahon, K. McMahon 0-1, D. Collernan 0-1, J.O’Driscoll, K.Touhy 0-2, L. McDonald, S. Ward, T. Maher, G. Gillespie.
Rangers: J. Williams, P. Bermingham, M. Rennicks, K. Geary, J. Moore, K. Galvin, T. Bermingham, M. Bishop 0-1, R. Hussey 0-1, M. Fitzgerald, D. Phelan 0-2, M. Sheridan 0-1, S. Concannon 1-0, M. O’Keefe 1-3, D. McKenna. Subs: D. McGovern 0-1.