Junior B joy for Douglas footballers against Goleen
Ray Keating, Douglas, breaking between Goleen players Jack O'Driscoll, Eden Healy and Cian Bowen in their McCarthy Insurance Group Junior B Football Championship final at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture Dan Linehan
A dogged Douglas display was good enough for them to secure the McCarthy Insurance Group Junior B County Football Championship following a hard-earned win over Goleen at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday.
In truth Douglas always looked likely winners, but credit to Goleen they battled to the wire and the game hung in the balance up to the closing minutes.
The West Cork side travelled to the city knowing that after losing last year’s final to the same opposition by two points they were hoping to break the hoodoo of losing four finals in this grade since 2019.
The city side were quickest from the blocks and captain Ray Keating split the posts in the opening minute.
When you are talking about dedicated players look no further than the Douglas 47-year-old centre-back David McSweeney. McSweeney was corner-back and Man of the Match when his team won the 1997 IFC final against Castletownbere.
Goleen were under pressure but they were back on parity in the sixth minute when Matthew O’Donovan broke through the Douglas defence and kicked a fabulous point.
In fairness, Douglas were impressive going forward and after going 11 minutes without a score they came up trumps when Kevin Murphy kicked a classy point in the 12th minute. It got better for Douglas on their next possession when Murphy showed his class once again to kick a similar point.
The city side looked impressive as their forwards were showing in front of their defenders and a fourth point from Eoin O’Flynn gave them a three-point lead in the 17th minute.
It was evident the Douglas press was working as they were winning the majority of possession but Goleen after playing second fiddle for a long period, they managed to end an 18-minute drought.
On this occasion, it was another solo run that ended up with Michael O’Reilly kicking their second point.
A minute later Goleen should have raised the opening green flag when corner forward Michael O’Reilly broke through the static Douglas defence but Brian Boyle showed all agility and experience to deny them a certain goal.
In true battling style, Douglas responded and a minute later Murphy was left through on goal but before pulling the trigger he was hauled down inside the square.
Up stepped Keating for the resultant penalty but his shot was parried to safety by the Goleen keeper Ronan Kennedy as the sides went in at the interval with Douglas commanding a two-point lead 0-4 to 0-2.
David McSweeney showed all his class five minutes into the restart when kicking a long-range point that extended their lead to three points.
The West Cork twam were getting rare looks in front of goal, but they did manage two wides in the opening nine minutes.
Finally, after some good build-up play Darren O’Donovan kicked a well-worked point that brought a two-point gap between the teams in the 42nd minute.
In the closing minutes, Boyle denied Daniel O’Driscoll a certain goal as Douglas found their shooting boots to be crowned champions in style.
R Keating 0-4 f, K Murphy 0-2, E O’Flynn, D McSweeney 0-1 each.
D O’Donovan 0-2, M O’Reilly, M Sheehan 0-1 each.
B Boyle; C Donlan, D Sweeney, I Lucey; M Lyons, D McSweeney, A Kelly; B O’Neill, E O’Flynn; K Doyle, B Fitzgerald, A O’Brien; C Clarke, R Keating, K Murphy.
S O’Rourke for K Doyle (40), P Tobin for A Kelly (44), J Farrell for C Clarke (47), C Lucas for M Lyons (56), E Cotter for A O’Brien (59).
R Kennedy; E Healy, J O’Driscoll, M Sheehan; P Collins, P Reidy, C Bowen; M Sheehan, T Cullinane; J Coughlan, D O’Driscoll, D O’Donovan; P O’Regan, P Scully, M O’Reilly.
M O’Donovan for P Scully (40), T Reidy for P O’Regan (48), A Barry for D O’Driscoll (58), A Sheehan for M O’Reilly (60).
Damien Taaffe (Passage).
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