By Mike Keane

ON Sunday morning at Paddy’s Field, Rangers and Rockland served up a thriller in the New York under-16 championship, with Rangers winning 3-4 to 1-5 in a sporting and entertaining match.

Both defenses excelled, with Rangers Chris Colleran, Stephen Cassels and Paul Coyle playing well, and goalkeeper Colin Murphy making excellent saves.

On the Rockland side, Brian Walsh, Gary Ginley, Nick Mangan and keeper Brian Warner were equally rock solid.

Both sides played tough to achieve a halftime score of Rockland 0-4 to Rangers 1-0. Early in the second half Rangers enjoyed a lot of possession but no results on the scoreboard.

Ranger managers Denis Twomey and Henry Malone knew they needed to shuffle positions, and the introduction of under-14 stars Sean Twomey, Pierce Cassels and Mike Coyle ignited the offense at a critical juncture.

Cassels fisted a high ball to Coyle, who converted for an excellent point. The next score, a great individual effort by Coyle, resulted in Rangers pulling ahead by one.

Then Twomey sent over a beauty and Pat Berna got his second goal, set up by Chris Cassels and Lorcan Malone. 

Brendan McManus was all over the field, and his lengthy solo runs and long balls into the Rockland forwards were finally rewarded when the ball landed in back of Rangers’ net. But it was too late, as Rangers hung on for the win. 

This Rangers panel won the under-14 championship in 2001 and 2002, and have a bright future ahead of them.