Has it all gone pear shaped?
Rangers did another job on the Bhoys last Sunday. The same old
story of recent years as Celtic played their hearts out, failed
to score and squandered the game. Rangers struck twice through
what has to be said were cracking goals from Thern and Albertz in
the 24th and 66th minutes. Rangers now jump ahead of Celtic on
the slimmest of goal differences at the top of the table. Despite
the setback of the Ibrox defeat, Celtic have to be still
considered the favourites for the title and stopping Rangers from
doing the dreaded ten in a row. Even Rangers' Manager Walter
Smith admits Celtic are still the more likely of the three title
chasers to win the league.
Undoubtedly it is Celtic who have the `easier' of the run-ins (on
paper anyway). Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts (who went down 2-1 at
the hands of arch rivals and bottom of the table Hibernian) have
four games left each. Celtic have three home games and one away.
Rangers are away to Aberdeen at the weekend, with Hearts at
Tynecastle the following week. A tougher set of assignments for
Rangers than the Celts.
Reds slip up
In the Six-County league Cliftonville's title ambitions also took
a blow. The Reds went down 3-0 to Linfield at Windsor Park and
their lead at the top of the Premier Division was cut to two
points. Cliftonville's cause wasn't helped by Jody Tolan's
`blessing' antics after being sent off. Jody has since apologised
for his actions: ``I do have a temper, but I regret doing what I
did at Windsor Park. Football has to get rid of this kind of
abuse.'' But on Tuesday night Cliftonville were back to winning
ways with a 1-0 win against Omagh, with Linfield only able to
draw with Crusaders. With only two games left, Cliftonville now
have a four point lead.
In the southern league an all-Dublin battle between Shels and St
Pat's for the League of Ireland title looks set in the run-in
over the next few weeks. A 2-0 win for the Saints took them back
to the top of the table on Monday night at Finn Harps, leading
rivals Shels by a point.
Kilkenny City and Drogheda United are relegated while Waterford
secured promotion to the Premiership at the weekend.
League semis
A Leinster-Ulster National League Final is on after the weekend's
semi-finals. Offaly continue to make leaps and bounds after their
defeat of Donegal. Offaly's tendency to score crucial goals
prioved to be the difference between the sides.
Monaghan's successful league campaign came to an end at the hands
of Derry at Croke Park in a hot-tempered, ugly game. These two
sides are no stranger to each other, and this was used as an
excuse for the bad behaviour during the game. The two sides meet
again in the first round of the Ulster Championship.
Derry are no strangers to League finals in recent years and the
games against Offaly in the final promises to be a cracker.
In the National Hurling League the big news of the day was the
return of DJ Carey, coming on as a sub against Laois. Not even
his reurn could stop Kilkenny going down to eventual defeat at
the hands of Laois.
BY CIARAN HEAPHEY
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