Warrenpoint end the year on a high in Milltown

The point led 2-0 with the opener from Diarmuid O'Hanlon and Jim O'Hanlon scoring from the spot before Rangers pulled a goal back late in the first half.

It looked like the hosts were home and hosed when Rory Powell nabbed the third early in the second half but again Rathfriland narrowed the margin to one with their second goal late in the game but the home side had done enough to hold on and claim all three points.

“I thought the lads were terrific today,” said Warrenpoint manager Gary Boyle after the game.

”We gave away a couple of silly goals at silly moments, but other than that I thought we defended our box admirably. We had chances. We picked them off a few times and we probably could have scored a couple more, we hit the bar as well. It was a good performance but it's only another game and it's a game that we did well to win because Rathfriland are a good side. They beat us three times last year. I wasn't here for them all but they've had our number this last while. They have some really good players we know that. We tried to negate their threats and we tried to expose areas we felt we could get at them with our threats.”

While individuals were not singled out Chris Crane was named Supporters Club Man-of-the-Match and the manager agreed 18-year-old Powell who scored on his fiftieth senior appearance is ‘a super player’.

Rathfriland applied some early pressure that Warrenpoint defended ably, including a couple of corners and frees but the hosts soon grew into the game and it opened up.

The deadlock was broken by Diarmuid O’Hanlon on 28 minutes when the Point striker picked up ball delivered at his feet by Jim O’Hanlon at the edge of the box and coolly played along the floor into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

With their men a goal to the good the Warrenpoint supporters behind the opposite posts found their voice and lifted the team further. With a spring in their step the home side continued to grow into the game and looked the more determined team, fighting for every ball as a unit.

With 10 minutes left in the half there was a delay in play when Jim O'Hanlon caught Jack Barbour and both players hit the deck and when the dust settled, the Point player was somewhat harshly booked. Justice was served moments later however, when Rathfriland keeper Ronan Burns was off his line and took out Michael Leddy resulting in a booking and a penalty that Jim O'Hanlon hit low and hard to the net.

The first half action wasn't over yet though, as Josh Cooper pulled one back for Rangers, with some dogged play holding onto the ball under pressure and finishing to the top left hand corner and while it was end-to-end during first half stoppage time the score remained 2-1 at the break.

The third goal was something special from former Academy player Powell on his fiftieth appearance for the senior team. It was fittingly right in front of the loyal young supporters in the stand behind the goal and Powell and his teammates celebrated with the fans after he fired what proved to be the the winning goal into the roof of the net 10 minutes into the second half set up by a pin-point delivery from Leddy.

Jim O'Hanlon came close to increasing the lead further on 65 minutes with his effort finishing just over the bar but while the visitors had already begun to wilt there was still more defensive work required with Crane booting a dangerous ball over the bar for a corner and a throw-in cleared after that.

Shane Haughey had a shot pound off the post that would have made sure there was no coming back for Rathfriland but at the start of the six minutes stoppage time announced, Cooper hit the target for the visitors, making for a nervy finish for the hosts who prevailed,

“It was a game of cat and mouse and I thought at times we could have played with a wee bit more quality in the top third but we've won the game and you have to be happy and move on,” said Boyle who agrees that it was a really good team performance from his side which is something he says they work on.

“That's been the motto I suppose since I came back to the club and particularly from setting out afresh. It's a fresh group and what we've said is the power of the collective outweighs any individual. That's the message and what we've tried to drum in, that if we can get the power of the collective right which was what we've seen today, it far outweighs individual players and individual performers. So it was a really, really good team performance and we're happy but we'll move on very quickly to the next game.”

That next game is another home fixture on Saturday against Oxford Sunnyside.

​MATCH STATS

Warenpoint: Devine, Murray, Crane, Boyle, Lynch, J O'Hanlon, Powell (O'Hare 90), D O'Hanlon, S Haughey, D Loye (Byrne 74), Leddy

Subs not used: Coleman, Flanagan, Reid, Hutchinson, Walker

Rathfriland: Burns, Devlin, Barbour, Tate, Hayes, Fitzpatrick (Scannel 77), Kilmartin (Rooney, 66), Chambers, Cooper, Holloway, Corbett

Subs not used: Gracey, Johnston, Annett, Murray, Ferris

Referee: Richard White