Premier SHC: Douglas pull clear in closing stages to see off Erin's Own
Brian Turnbull, Douglas, holding off Erin’s Own Maurice O'Carroll during their Co-Op Superstores Premier SHC match at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Dan Linehan
GOALS from Alan Cadogan and Shane Kingston laid much of the groundwork for Douglas to open with an 11-point win over Erin’s Own in Group B of the Co-op SuperStores Cork Premier SHC at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday evening.
While the gap was vast by the end, the sides were separated by three points until Kingston’s goal from a free on the three-quarter mark. From there, they eased to victory, with Erin’s Own’s cause hampered by red cards for Kieran Murphy and Seán Kelly.
Along with Blackrock and Glen Rovers, these two clubs are the only ones to have a perfect record when it comes to qualification from the group stage since the change in format for 2020. This win will give Douglas a strong chance of making it four from four in that regard, though, as much as their ambitions lie further on than that, the presence of Charleville and Fr O’Neills in the same group mean that there will be more hurdles to clear.
They will be pleased to have overcome this one, given that, even without Robbie or James O’Flynn, Erin’s Own were doughty opponents for much of the contest. Alan Cadogan’s goal was the difference at half-time as Douglas led by 1-9 to 0-10 and, with the wind in the second half, the city side were able to slowly pull clear.
The twin threats of Cadogan and Shane Kingston in the full-forward line give Douglas a chance against anyone – here they combined for 2-14 – while their defence was very solid, especially when Erin’s Own tested them in the second half.
After Peter O’Shea had given Erin’s Own the lead inside eight seconds after winning the throw-in, Cadogan might have registered an early Douglas goal as he did well to create space from Stephen Moylan’s pass but he shot into the side-netting.
However, while Eoghan Murphy doubled the Erin’s Own lead, Douglas hit the front as Shane Kingston reeled off five points in the space of seven minutes. Murphy’s frees kept Erin’s own with them, though, and the middle period of the first half was score for score.
When Douglas goalkeeper Donal Maher was penalised for fouling the ball after a good catch, Murphy levelled at 0-6 each. Then, he put them back in front when play was called back after Mark Harrington had done well to cut out a lovely Oran O’Regan crossfield ball that would have given Murphy a goal chance.
The lead was fleeting though as Douglas pieced together a brilliant move, wing-back Shane Donegan with the pass to give Brian Hartnett sight of goal, but he showed good awareness to pass across for Cadogan to bat into the net.
That made it 1-6 to 0-7 and they briefly led by a goal, 1-8 to 0-8, following Cadogan’s 24th-minute point, with the half-time score 1-9 to 0-10 in their favour.
On the resumption, O’Shea repeated his trick of scoring immediately – though it took 21 seconds from the whistle on this occasion – but Brian Turnbull and Cadogan had points in response. Douglas were able to hold their cushion at three or four points throughout the third quarter, a period where Matt O’Riordan scored a pair of nice Erin’s Own points.
The game was made all but safe on 45 minutes. First, Cadogan had a chance which was brilliantly blocked by Shane Broderick, but Douglas had been given an advantage and were awarded a 20m free. From that, Shane Kingston caught the Erin’s Own defence cold with a brilliant shot drilled to the net for a 2-15 to 0-15 lead.
They pushed on from there, while Erin’s Own sub Kieran Murphy was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident on 54. In the wake of that, another melee developed, following which Kelly received a second booking.
S Kingston 1-11 (1-5 f), A Cadogan 1-3, C Kingston, C O’Donovan (0-1 sideline) 0-2 each, S Bourke, C Baldwin, B Turnbull, B Hartnett 0-1 each.
E Murphy 0-10 (0-8 f), P O’Shea, M O’Riordan (0-1f) 0-3 each, C Lenihan 0-1.
D Maher; D Murphy, B O’Neill, M Howell; K McSweeney, M Harrington, S Donegan; C O’Donovan, C Baldwin; C Kingston, B Turnbull, S Moylan; A Cadogan, B Hartnett, S Kingston.
S Bourke for Hartnett (46), E Dolan for McSweeney (50), C Lucas for Turnbull (60).
S Bowen; C O’Connor, S Broderick, D Twomey; R O’Regan, M O’Carroll, J O’Carroll; S Kelly, P O’Shea; C Lenihan, S Guilfoyle, M O’Riordan; O O’Regan, E Murphy, C O’Callaghan.
K Murphy for O’Callaghan, S Irwin for Guilfoyle (both 39), J Sheehan for Twomey (45), R Twomey for E Murphy (50).
C O’Regan (Ballyhea).
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