Rebel Óg Minor Football: Douglas still on track after seven-goal thriller against Ballincollig

Douglas 3-17 Ballincollig 4-10

THREE wins out of three for defending champions Douglas has guaranteed them top spot in their Premier 1 Minor Football Championship group and a semi-final against Valley Rovers or Beara.

They eventually got the better of a defiant Ballincollig side in a seven-goal thriller that was fast-open football at its best. Though Douglas deserved their win they got nothing easy.

Cork minor captain Sean Coakley was the man to stop once again for Douglas. He managed 1-8 which included the first goal of the game to get his side up and running after 19 minutes. Weaving through the Ballincollig defence on a fantastic solo run, Coakley buried it past Caolan Walsh with style.

Both teams were evenly matched in the first half but it was Collig who got their noses in front after a quick-fire 2-1 before the short whistle. The first of their goals came after Kevin O’Leary played the ball out wide to full-back Cillian Power in space. The corner-back placed it past James O’Flaherty into the net.

The fun didn’t stop there. Not even a minute later a high ball was pounced on by Ballincollig's David O’Leary and palmed it into the net from close range: 2-6 to 1-5.

Evidently angered by their end to the first-half Douglas flew out of the gates in the second, dominating early proceedings. They got five scores to open the half including a superb team goal that concluded with Ronan Dooley smashing the ball into the net from close range after Walsh’s great initial save off a Calvin Kilbride shot.

Collig settled after this and kept Douglas from getting too far ahead. 

They put over some well-worked scores of their own and then on 51 minutes had another goal thanks to midfielder George Howard. David O’Leary’s pinpoint pass from distance found the hands of Howard, whose bullet found the roof of the Douglas net to draw things level with 10 minutes to go.

But this Douglas side, who have experienced championship glory before, didn’t feel the pressure for a moment and grabbed the next four scores, which included yet another goal, this time from Mark O’Brien.

George Howard did score another goal 47 seconds later but it was too little too late as Douglas held out for their third win in a row.

Scorers for Douglas: S Coakley 1-8 (0-2 f, 0-1 65), M O’Brien 1-1, R Dooley 1-0, Jack O’Brien, Jamie O’Brien 0-2 each, O Haynes Barry, J O’Leary, C Kilbride, L Kelleher 0-1 each.

Ballincollig: G Howard 2-2, D O’Leary 1-3 (0-1 f), C Power 1-0, D Miskella 0-3, C O’Connor, F Jozefowski 0-1 each.

DOUGLAS: J O’Flaherty; E Kelly, B O’Hehir, J Mouret; R Long, O Haynes Barry, J O’Brien; F Nash, D Reddington; R Dooley, J O’Brien, C Kilbride; S Coakley, M O’Brien, D McFadden.

Subs: L Kelleher for Long (32), J O’Leary for Nash (h-t), J Harte for Kilbride (49), F Gallagher for Dooley (54), D O’Sullivan for M O’Brien (58).

BALLINCOLLIG: C Walsh; C Sommers, P Rose, C Power; C O’Connor, T Morgan, F Jozefowski; B O’Connell, G Howard; T Murphy, C Ahern, K O’Leary; D Miskella, E Dwyer, D O’Leary.

Subs: E Donovan for Jozefowski (43), J Murray for Murphy (48), S Rue O’Sullivan for O’Connell (56).

Referee: C O’Regan (Lough Rovers).