10-man Rangers lose grip on Connacht Junior Cup

Corrib Rangers’ reign as Connacht Junior Cup champions is over, as a 10-man home side went down at home against St Bernard's at Westside on Sunday morning.

It was a weekend which saw just some limited action as all Saturday’s programme was postponed, including the Oscar Traynor Cup quarter-final against Kildare, while the FAI Youth Inter League game against Wexford also fell to Storm Jorge.

The draw for the last 16 of the Connacht Cup took place in midweek and while the meeting of Athenry and Castlebar Celtic is obviously the tie of the round, the head-to-head between local rivals West United and Hibernians will also make interesting viewing.

Connacht Junior Cup

 Corrib Rangers 2

 St Bernard’s 4

A game that was in the balance changed in the final minute of the opening half as the visitors secured a second goal and the home side had Sean Keogh sent-off immediately afterwards as he had words with the match official over the awarding of the goal.

It was the point of no return for Rangers, and while Johnny O’Brien gave his side the “come on lads, let's roll up the sleeves” advice at the start of the second-half, it only had limited effect as Bernard’s were now even more up to the task and were enjoying a two goal advantage.

Their opening half goals were bagged by Cormac McWalter, who finished from close range following a Matt Cosgrove cross; and Cosgrove himself, who did the damage with the second as he appeared to have acres of space in the box and fired home from close range despite Derek Griffin getting a hand to his effort.

Despite the urgency of the situation for the cup holders, it was the Abbeyknockmoy side who threatened to add to their tally in the early stages of the second-half as Niall Martyn twice went close, while Paddy Mullins had a ‘goal’ ruled out for offside.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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