Douglas lay down an early league marker under Paudie Kissane with win over Castlehaven
Douglas' goalkeeper Sean Barron in action against Castlehaven during the McCarthy Insurance Group FL Division 1 game at Douglas. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Douglas opened their McCarthy Insurance Group Football Leagues Division 1 campaign up with a victory over Castlehaven.
The county champions never got going against a side, managed for the first time by 2010 All-Ireland winner Paudie Kissane, who offered a balanced display with seven scorers.
In addition, former Waterford goalkeeper Sean Barron, who also had stints with Cobh Ramblers and Galway United, made a string of excellent saves to deny the Haven in the second half.
Douglas started brightly, with a well-worked Kevin Shanahan score, which bounced off the crossbar, and an Alan O’Hare free.
Conor Nolan opened Castlehaven’s account but Douglas surged in front at 0-4 to 0-1 with Barron converting a 45 and Shanahan raising his second white flag.
David Whelton split the posts with a close-range drive but Douglas kept their cool and a Shanahan mark combined with another O’Hare free made it 0-6 to 0-2.
Douglas kept going with Jack Cunningham getting in on the action before Conor Kingston kicked the game's first and only two-pointer.
O’Hare raised another white flag to establish a 0-11 to 0-3 lead at the break, with Sean Browne getting the third point for Castlehaven.
Michael Hurley did put over two frees when the action restarted but Douglas responded with Shanahan picking his spot from play and Cunningham getting another to make it 0-13 to 0-5.
Kevin O’Donovan reduced the gap to seven points but that did very little to ignite something with 15 minutes left to play.
Douglas went up a gear again with Cunningham putting over two quick frees.
Castlehaven did push for a badly-needed goal but a powerful shot by Nolan was well stopped by an onrushing Barron.
Cunningham had the final say for the hosts, who were 11 points up and cruising to victory.
Shane O’Connell did get one off the bench but it was too little too late for Castlehaven, who will be looking for a massive improvement in the coming weeks.
For Douglas, it was the ideal start to the campaign under Kissane and early marker for what they hope is a productive year.
J Cunningham 0-5 (0-3 f), K Shanahan 0-4 (0-1 m), A O’Hare 0-3 (0-2 f), C Kingston 0-2 (1 2 pt), A Cantwell, S Barron (45), S Aherne 0-1 each.
M Hurley 0-2 f, C Nolan, K O’Donovan, D Whelton, S O’Connell 0-1 each.
S Barron; L Lynch, N Walsh, J O’Callaghan Maher; J Bourke, D Buckley, C Kingston; E Nash, P Lucey; K Shanahan, S Aherne, A Cantwell; A O’Hare, J Cunningham, H Quilligan.
R Hanley for O’Hare (45), B Powter for Quilligan (52), N Hartnett for Cantwell (52), C Kenny for Walsh (57), D O’Callaghan for Lucey (59).
C Cahalane; J Bohane, J Regan, T Collins; J O’Driscoll, J Walsh, S Walsh; J O’Neill, S Browne; F Collins, R Minihane, C Nolan; K O’Donovan, D Whelton, M Hurley.
M Crowley for Collins (42), S O’Connell for O’Driscoll (45), W O’Donovan for Nash (50).
James Regan (Lough Rovers)
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