MOUNT LEINSTER RANGERS 1-03 OLD LEIGHLIN 0-05: WHAT ODDS on Rangers for the senior double? They seem to have no peers with the caman and they're making intimidating inroads into the football scene again by scalping the fancied Old Leighlin in the SFC in Dr. Cullen Park on Sunday evening. It wasn't a pretty game, far from it, but the contest was intense and dour; defences mean and unyielding and Rangers coming out marginally on top.

They withstood the best the '09 finalists could throw at them with Richard Coady, Gary Kelly and Willie Hickey leading the charge; Gary have a blinding second half and particularly resistant in the closing chapter.

Luke Dempsey won't be offering forward contracts on this performance - the score totals attest, but there was oodles of fire in the tackling.

It as a dogged affair with Rangers playing with considerable flair in the opening g ten minutes, but their only reward an Eddie Byrne point after 28 seconds at the dressing-room end.

The promised much but Old Leighlin slowly found the pace and countered with a Pat Hickey point and his team looked to have the measure of their rivals when chipping over two further points in the sixth and tenth minutes from Seamus Kinsella and then Brendan Lawler after a smart sortie involving Pat Hickey, David Bambrick and Sean Kinsella.

With David Phelan and Willie Hickey changing roles temporarily Rangers went on the hunt again and were rewarded with a penalty when Eoin Doyle was grounded after taking delivery on the left from Sean Michael Murphy and the No. 10 hammered the penalty inside the left post in the 16th minute.

There was only one further score in the remaining 14 minutes of the half, that from Rangers Willie Hickey who moved onto a Derek Byrne pass three minutes from the break which saw the winners lead 1-2 to 0-3.

It was a hard-fought 31 minutes with an unresolved battle at midfield where Edward Coady and Mark Brennan were the chief protagonists, the latter quite influential in the opening half.

Old Leighlin might have taken the lead before the break when Pat Hickey got on the end of a promising raid through the middle but the No. 9 was bundled off his shot at the right post at the expense of a fruitless 45. The second half was scrappy and disjointed; Old Leighlin scoring in the 36th and 57the minute when Lawler attempted to lob the advancing Tomas Brennan only to scoop the ball over the bar, and Seamus Brennan closing with a free.

Rangers made a meal of scraps for much of the half but their only reward was a 46th point when veteran Murphy had a ball knocked down to him by John Coady after Doyle had hit the post with a free.

They might have increased their advantage early in the second half but Eddie Byrne saw a goaldirected shot excellently saved by county 'keeper James Clarke at the expense of a 45.

"Yea, it was a super win, and our workrate and tackling was very good," said a very pleased Andy Hickey after Rangers went to the top of the SFC mast in Dr. Cullen Park on Sunday. "Everything we talked about in training worked a treat today."

However the No. 14 felt their shooting left a lot to be desired.

Andy felt the footballers did not sufficient belief in themselves, but Sunday's win would boost their confidence.

"We played poorly," was the initial remark of Old Leighlin manager Joe Murphy. "We didn't do ourselves any justice out there at all."

It became a dog-fight, he said, and it is the teams which win the 'dirty ball' which will survive, he added, and unfortunately Old Leighlin did not win the 'dirty ball.'

"Overall it was a poor game of football…we have sights on playing better football than that and we didn't do it tonight for some reason we just have to

- PAUL DONAGHY At Dr. Cullen Park