{"id":565165,"date":"2026-07-24T01:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/565165\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T01:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:25:11","slug":"iafc-four-goal-mitchelstown-hold-off-gabriel-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/565165\/","title":{"rendered":"IAFC: Four-goal Mitchelstown hold off Gabriel Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitchelstown: 4-11 (4-1-9)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rangers: 0-15 (0-1-13)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goals win games, they say, and that couldn\u2019t have been more true in Ahiohill on Thursday evening as Mitchelstown had enough to see off Gabriel Rangers in the McCarthy Insurance Group IAFC.<\/p>\n

This Group 2 Round 1 clash had plenty of bite and served up an entertaining contest. The Town carried just enough quality and pace to get the job done by eight points.<\/p>\n

They never panicked, even when four points down in the first half during a spell when they weren\u2019t clicking.<\/p>\n

Denis Reen\u2019s side struck for green flags at crucial stages, with Cork footballer Cathail O\u2019Mahony finishing with 1-4. He was forced off in the second half with what looked like a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rangers will take plenty of positives. Had they been more clinical, the result may well have been different. They were also without Cork player Paddy O’Driscoll. He should be back for the next game.<\/p>\n

\"MitchelstownMitchelstown captain Ronan Murphy, referee John Enright, and Gabriel Rangers captain Killian O’Brien.<\/p>\n

In Mitchelstown\u2019s first attack, they could have goaled, but O\u2019Mahony\u2019s effort was deflected away from danger.<\/p>\n

Shane Beston opened Mitchelstown\u2019s account, but his point was cancelled out by an Eddie Goggin effort.<\/p>\n

The sides traded scores before Se\u00e1n Kelleher \u2014 influential throughout in midfield \u2014 split the posts to give Gabriel Rangers a 0-3 to 0-2 lead after eight minutes.<\/p>\n

Goggin and Ger O\u2019Callaghan pushed their team\u2019s advantage out to three, and it was fully deserved.<\/p>\n

The excellent Jordi O\u2019Brien, with the outside of his boot, added another to extend the lead further.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Mahony, largely a peripheral figure early on, kicked a much-needed free for Mitchelstown, though it didn\u2019t immediately spark them into life.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien added his second as the game continued with plenty of bite.<\/p>\n

It took Mitchelstown 22 minutes to find their groove.<\/p>\n

Cormac Hyland and Ronan Murphy struck tidy goals within a minute to turn the game, making it 2-3 to 0-7.<\/p>\n

\" Shane Beston in action for Mitchelstown. Picture: Jim Coughlan<\/p>\n

Keith O\u2019Driscoll and Kelleher raised white flags for Gabriel Rangers before the break, but Mitchelstown hit four scores in response \u2014 including a goal from Beston and an O\u2019Mahony two-pointer \u2014 to lead 3-7 to 0-9 at half-time.<\/p>\n

A two-point free from Kelleher was exactly the start Gabriel Rangers needed in the second half, and he soon added a white flag as they stayed in touch.<\/p>\n

But Mitchelstown were awarded a penalty after 37 minutes when Steve Kenneally was fouled in the square.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Mahony stepped up and finished to the net, pushing the Town 4-7 to 0-12 ahead.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rangers never buckled. They kicked three of the next four points to trail 4-8 to 0-15 with nine minutes left, O\u2019Driscoll\u2019s effort the highlight.<\/p>\n

They dominated this spell, but wides proved costly.<\/p>\n

\" Keith O’Driscoll on the ball for Gabriel Rangers. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n

Mitchelstown were the opposite. Three unanswered points gave them breathing space heading into added time, with sub James Sheehan among the scorers as the Town prevailed by eight points.<\/p>\n

Scorers for Mitchelstown: C O\u2019Mahony 1-4 (1 2pt, 1-0 pen, 0-1 f), S Beston 1-1, R Murphy, C Hyland 1-0 each, A O\u2019Brien 0-2 (0-1 f), Conor Walsh, Cathal Walsh, J Sheehan, M Walsh 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rangers: S Kelleher 0-5 (1 2pt f), J O\u2019Brien, E Goggin (0-2 f), K O\u2019Driscoll 0-3 each, G O\u2019Callaghan 0-1.<\/p>\n

MITCHELSTOWN: L Hanna; L Finn, F Herlihy, E Geary; K Roche, R Murphy (c), C McNamara; S Walsh, C Hyland; S Kenneally, S Beston, Cathal Walsh; A O\u2019Brien, Conor Walsh, C O\u2019Mahony.<\/p>\n

Subs: J Mullins for S Walsh (20-22, temp), J Sheehan for C O\u2019Mahony (43, inj), L Keane for C McNamara (49), M Walsh for A O\u2019Brien, P Magee for S Kenneally (both 54), J Mullins for K Roche (59).<\/p>\n

GABRIEL RANGERS: L Hegarty; L Hodnett, D O\u2019Regan, R Roycroft; D O\u2019Shea, L Bowen, J O\u2019Brien; K O\u2019Brien (c), S Kelleher; G O\u2019Callaghan, M Vearncombe, G Coughlan; E O\u2019Brien, K O\u2019Driscoll, E Goggin.<\/p>\n

Subs: D McSweeney for R Roycroft, F Hurley for G Coughlan (both h-t), L O\u2019Brien for M Vearncombe (51).<\/p>\n

Referee: John Enright (Glengarriff).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mitchelstown: 4-11 (4-1-9)\u00a0 Gabriel Rangers: 0-15 (0-1-13)\u00a0 Goals win games, they say, and that couldn\u2019t have been more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1964,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-565165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cork-gaa","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}