Rangers made to work

All-Ireland Club FC Quarter-final/Crossmaglen Rangers 2-10 Kingdom Kerry Gaels 1-9: Aiming for their fourth All-Ireland club football championship title, Crossmaglen Rangers had to pull out all the stops yesterday before taking the honours against London title-holders Kingdom Kerry Gaels in one of the best games at the Ruislip venue for some years.

A fortuitous goal in the fifth minute, scored by full forward Cathal Short, gave the visitors a flying start but undaunted by this setback the home side gave as good as they got for the remainder of the half and trailed by only two points (1-4 to 0-5) at the interval.

Kingdom Kerry Gaels were rocked midway through the second half when, after narrowing the gap to a single point, a defensive blunder saw them concede a penalty after Short was upended in the square. From the resultant penalty Oisin McConville sent Seán Howard the wrong way to give his side a four-point lead.

But again the losers were not to be denied and substitute Jim Landy, on the field for two minutes, rounded full back Francie Bellew to score his team's only goal with seven minutes remaining. And when this was followed by a long-range point by Gordon Weldon, an upset looked likely.

However, Crossmaglen responded to the danger impressively and closed out victory with three unanswered points.

Kingdom Kerry Gaels' performance proved that the gulf between teams from Ireland and London is narrowing significantly and yesterday the visitors had nobody to match the brilliant Mayo man and man of the matchColm Foody in his attacking role.

Others to stand out were Eamon Brennan and Gordon Weldon, while Crossmaglen can thank their attack for picking off scores at crucial periods. Here they were well served by McConville, John Murtagh and Anthony Cunningham. Outstanding in defence were full back Bellew and centre half Tony McEntee.

CROSSMAGLEN RANGERS; P Hearty; J Donaldson, F Bellew, C Dooley; A Kernan (0-1), T McEntee, G McShane; S Clarke (0-1), S Kernan (0-1); M McNamee, A Cunningham, O McConville (1-4); J Murtagh (0-3), C Short (1-0), C O'Neill, Subs: S McNamee for McEntee, J Hughes for M McNamee, M Ahearn for Murtagh, B McKeown for Clarke.

KINGDOM KERRY GAELS: S Howard; C Costello, K Scanlon, P Earley; P McDonagh, T Earley, K Waldron; S Sheehan, E Brennan (0-1); A Dillane, G Weldon (0-4), H Murphy (0-1); J Murphy, C Hamill, C Foody (0-3). Subs: J Landy (1-0) for Hamill, E Murphy for Dillane, D McNamara for Murphy.

Referee: Pat Fox (Westmeath).