Rebel Óg P1 Football: Douglas minors prove too far strong for Bantry
Sean Coakley of Douglas slots the ball past Bantry Blues keeper Eoin O'Donoghue during the Rebel Óg P1 MFC game. Picture: Howard Crowdy
Douglas 9-17 Bantry Blues 0-5
Douglas maintained their winning record in the Rebel Óg Premier 1 MFC after their win over Bantry Blues at Douglas.
Whilst the scoreline shows a one-sided game to say so would be unfair to the Bantry side who battled all through and never gave up. They were also dealt a number of blows before the ball was even thrown in when, through injury and other reasons, they had to travel without five of their starting line-up.
That made what was going to be a tough challenge even tougher and in the end, they were no match for their opponents.
Douglas came into this tie undefeated in the round-robin stages and their third win means they now top their group to put them in confident form ahead of the semi-final in a few weeks.
What will be of concern to them was the injury picked up by midfielder Joe Hartnett in an accidental clash with one of his own players and he left the pitch with a suspected broken nose.
With a final group game in the hurling championship, they will be hoping it’s no more than bruising as he would be a huge loss in that game against Na Piarsaigh.
Two early points from Harry Quilligan helped to put Douglas in front before Sean Coakley got the first of his three goals. He added a second before Quilligan raised their third white flag, to make it 3-4 to no score.
Dara Sheedy hit two for Bantry, before Alex Lynch, Fionn Hynes and Quilligan all raised white flags at the other end.
Two late goals from Douglas, with Coakley completing his hat-trick and Robert Hanley also raising a green flag, saw them 5-8 to 0-2 up at half-time.
Sonny Hogan pointed for Bantry, with Hynes getting the sixth goal for the winners. Quilligan, from a penalty, and Robbie O’Brien raised further green flags, to put them 8-12 to 0-3 up after 45 minutes.
Sheedy hit two more for his side before Daniel MacCarthy got Douglas's ninth goal as they ran out comprehensive winners over a weakened Bantry side.
H Quilligan 2-7 (1-0 pen), S Coakley 3-0, F Hynes 1-2, R Hanley, R O’Brien 1-1 each, D MacCarthy 1-0, A Lynch 0-3, D Lenihan 0-2 (0-1 f), J Burke 0-1.
D Sheedy 0-4 (0-3 f), S Hogan 0-1.
E O’Flynn; S O’Rourke, J O’Callaghan Meagher, O Barry; M O’Connell, L Fogarty, C MacPhaisin; J Hartnett, N O’Leary; F Hynes, R Hanley, D MacCarthy; S Coakley, A Lynch, H Quilligan.
J Burke for J Hartnett (10 inj), C McSweeney for E O’Flynn, E McAuliffe for S Coakley, D Lenihan for N O’Leary (all ht).
E O’Donoghue; O Crowley, C Cronin, E Bowden; T Kelleher, M Og O’Sullivan, R Walsh; J Sheedy, D Sheedy; P Russell, F O’Donovan, S Hogan; B Clancy, E Reynolds, C Cronin.
Aidan Hyland, Kilworth.
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