Shane Kingston hits 0-5 as Douglas avoid relegation battle against Mallow
Mallow's Mark Tobin shoots from Douglas' Donnchadh Murphy and Niall Hartnett during the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC at Grenagh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Douglas put in the shift of their season in Grenagh on Sunday afternoon to see off Mallow in the McCarthy Insurance PSFC Round 3 clash.
The music booming from the Douglas dressing room after their win might have given the impression that the city side had progressed to the latter stages of this competition – as it happened they had just survived – job done in the North Cork sunshine.
Led on the field by cork hurling star Shane Kingston, footballers Brian Hartnett, Sean Powter and Kevin Flahive as well as Colm Joyce in the corner, Douglas were well worth the spoils here.
For Mallow, eyes would have been on Matty Taylor, Sean McDonnell and Jack Dillon and while all did well on the day, the boys in red found Douglas a tough nut to crack and spent far too much time sending speculative efforts wide – 12 wides and three short balls on the day. Still, they're into a quarter-final with Muskerry that they can reset for.
Right from the off it was clear that Douglas came to play with Joyce slotting over on three minutes.
Mallow had a raft of wides and McDonnell hit the post before they managed to get off the mark – it took 12 minutes for Ryan Harkin to raise a white flag.
Points from Aaron Sheehy and Kingston settled the city side into a nice rhythm with a free from Mark Tobin the only rest bite for the Avondhu men.
Six wides and a pair of short efforts was as much as Mallow could muster before the break as Douglas controlled proceedings bagging the next five points on the bounce – a Kingston brace, a great point from Powter and a late pair from Hartnett enough to send Douglas in at the short whistle, leading by six, 0-8 to 0-2.
The restart saw Douglas again hit the ground running, Joyce again first on the board as Douglas pushed to get this one done as early as possible.
A free from McDonnell put seven between the sides once more however another brace from the side bottom of the group, (Kingston and Joyce), looked to have sealed this one with over 20 minutes still on the clock.
Mallow have shown already this season that they have quality all over the field and a pair of points (one free and the point of the game) from McDonnell showed they were far from done.
Off the field, all eyes would have been on games in other locations to see what the permutations from this one would mean but for Mallow, it was about keeping the score difference down and with six of the last eight points they did just that. Mallow are through behind St Finbarr’s and into the quarter-finals.
For Douglas, the win sees them safe for another year but with the quality players they have on show 2024 will have to go down as something of a failure
Mallow will be wounded from this one.
S Kingston 0-5 (0-4 f), C Joyce, B Hartnett 0-3 each, S Powter, A Sheehy, P Lucey 0-1 each.
S McDonnell 0-3 (0-2 f), J Dillon 0-2, S Copps, R Harkin, M Tobin (f), K Sheehan 0-1 each.
A Cotter; D Murphy, D Ward, B Lynch; S Aherne, S Powter, D Buckley; B Hartnett, N Hartnett; D Kelly, S Kingston, K Flahive; A Sheehy, C Kingston, C Joyce.
J O’Callaghan Maher for D Ward (inj, 9), A O’Hare for D Kelly (48), P Lucey for A Sheehy (60).
K Doyle; B Myers, P Lyons, E Barry; J Glynn, J O’Keeffe, M Taylor; S Merritt, S O’Callaghan; J Dillon, R Harkin, P Hennessy; M Tobin, S McDonnell, M Kelleher.
K Sheehan for J Glynn (h-t), S Copps for B Myres (inj 37), E Kelleher for M Kelleher (48), L Walsh for S O’Callaghan (51).
J O'Regan (Lough Rovers).
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