A STRANGELY disjointed Ridge defence almost handed Parkville the lead on five minutes. They allowed an unattended Jamie Farrell to get to the by-line before pulling the ball back for the ever dangerous Ebby Quigley to blast over a yawning goal. This fright drew the desired response from a Ridge defence in which keeper Adrian Brennan proceeded to enjoy an influential game forcing the home team into shots from long range with Jonathon Smithers effort going closest to breaking the deadlock on 17 minutes.

Ridge proved that their arsenal was in tiptop shape when Liam Dunne and Damien Sheehan combined to set up Ray Buggy to force a great reaction save from the United keeper on 19 minutes. This proved to be a warning with Ridge going ahead on 25 minutes with the speedy Damien Sheehan setting up Ray Buggy to volley to the United net on 26 minutes.

On the resumption, Parkville ran the show but still found Conor McNally and keeper Adrian Brennan in commanding form making a number of timely interventions and brave saves to deny Jamie Farrell, Ronan Byrne and Ebby Quigley. It began to look like there was no way through until a bit of midfield magic by JJ Connolly who dispossessed Jim Dunne before setting up Ebby Quigley to crack a rising shot across goal to equalise on 68 minutes. Doubt appeared to creep into Ridge's defending during the following exchanges with Cian Madden having a header cleared off the Rangers line.

However, the visitors weathered the storm and then stormed into the lead on the break when Damien Sheehan calmly retained midfield possession and ran through a static United defence before picking his spot to restore Rangers lead on 80 minutes.

It was looking like the points were destined for the visitor's pockets until their occasional frailty at dead ball situations spelt disaster when JJ Connolly equalised following a scramble deep in the Ridge box. Almost on the final whistle, another Ridge break saw Gary Dunne skilfully evade a number of tackles before racing towards goal but the home keeper got a vital touch which ensured a share of the points.

Bagenalstown 0 Kilree Celtic 04 THE overnight frost did nothing to dampen early spirits in this keenly awaited Bagenalstown local derby encounter.

However, dour defences managed to keep real scoring chances to the minimum during the first quarter with Blaine Dwyer arching a free from the edge of the box a whisker over the Town bar the nearest event to a score. Within minutes Bagenalstown's David Devine angled a pass from Josh Doyle into the path of Trevor Nolan whose powerful strike was deflected for an unproductive corner by the in form Pa Cody.

The exchanges were compacted into the middle third of the pitch and another Bagenalstown corner delivery by Danny Darcy extracted a meaty header from Julian Mauplin but the effort flew well over an inviting target on 27 minutes. Almost immediately, a Kilree attack earned a free which saw a stretching Martin Cody touch John Manahan's defence splitting pass wide of an open goal. This proved to be the pattern of the first half exchanges with Trevor Nolan going closest to breaking the deadlock for Bagenalstown.

Gradually Bagenalstown began to re-establish themselves in midfield and on 70 minutes Trevor Nolan's low cross was met perfectly by Josh Doyle who brought the save of the game from Pa Cody in the Kilree goal. Within minutes Julian Mauplin fed a pass through to Trevor Nolan who released to an unmarked Paul Breslin whose shot had a goal written all over it but the ball was deflected wide.

However, Kilree remained focused on the main chance and it came when Blaine Dwyer raced through midfield frustrating the home offside trap but blazed his shot across goal and wide of the far post on 84 minutes.

As the game drew to a close Bagenalstown's Danny Darcy delivered an inviting cross which Andrew Townsend flashed wide. A defensive nightmare almost presented Kilree's Barry Bamberick with a last gasp gift wrapped scoring opportunity but the occasion proved too much with a share of the points deserved by the on field exploits of Town's Danny Darcy, Julian Mauplin and Andrew Townsend. Most impressive for Kilree included Martin Foley, Micko Salter, Niall Walsh and John Monahan.

Burrin Celtic 1 Stretford United 4 IT HAS always been difficult to predict the likely outcome in encounters between these two well matched sides and Stretford seemed uncharacteristically nervous at the back against a busy Celtic forward line.

That line up in which Michael O'Leary looked capable of exploiting even half chances. Burrin were particularly dangerous from dead ball situations with Matty Dowling and Alan O'Donovan having goal bound efforts cleared off the line by United's alert defender Jamie Kavanagh by the end of the first quarter.

Gradually Stretford improved but found James Foley in the Burrin goal in superb form.

Some enterprising attacking play saw United's James Ryan through on goal and when his shot came back off the foot of the post John 'Hajji' Doyle slotted home in the 30th minute. With the following exchanges evenly balanced, United preserved their lead to half time.

A darting attack resulted in United going two up on 60 minutes. Gary Powell threaded a pass into the path of John Doyle who beat the advancing keeper to score.

Burrin remained a threat and deservedly reduced the arrears when Matty Dowling climbed highest to knock Michael O'Leary's corner to the net on 66 minutes and this was quickly followed by a sliding Alan O'Donovan touching a ball wide of goal on 70 minutes. Celtics Denis O'Regan then forced a good save from Jason Carter. However, disaster struck for Celtic when a John Doyle corner kick was angled towards goal by Gary Powell who celebrated when Paul Hickey got himself into a terrible tangle as he hooked the ball into his own net on 80 minutes.

The game was settled on 86 minutes when opportunist John Doyle scored his hat trick after a speculative effort by Gary Powell was deflected into his path to score from close range.