Douglas footballers hit three goals to see off Cill na Martra

Douglas 3-12 (3-0-12) Cill na Martra 0-13 (0-1-11) 

Douglas stretched their unbeaten run in McCarthy Insurance Group Division 1 Football League to three games by defeating Cill na Martra 3-12 to 0-13 on Sunday morning.

The home side only trailed once on a day that belongs to Andrew Cotter after the goalkeeper made a string of late saves to keep his side in the lead.

These moments will haunt Cill na Martra, especially after the club hit five first-half wides.

That helped Douglas go in front 1-9 to 0-8 at the break, with Dean Buckley’s goal crucial in establishing this advantage.

This followed an even first 30 minutes that began with Conor Kingston fisting the ball over the bar and Conor Russell converting a free. Jason MacCárthaigh hit back for Cill na Martra and Adam Cantwell immediately responded for Douglas, to make it 0-3 to 0-1.

The West Cork side slowly found themselves and a Miicheál Ó Deasúna two-pointer from play poked them in front at 0-7 to 0-5, and things got better when Ciarán Ó Duinnín split the posts from play.

Douglas responded by rattling off 1-4, with Buckley’s goal crucial in giving them a 1-9 to 0-8 cushion at the interval.

The home side only scored three points in the second half, but that did not matter as Brendan Powter and Russell raised two fire green flags between the 35th and 40th minute, making it 3-9 to 0-10.

Cill na Martra tried to get back in the game by getting into similar positions and this is when the spotlight was put under Cotter.

The shot-stopper first got in the way of a close-range attempt by Gearóid Ó Goillidhe and that was followed by a stretched save to deny Shane Ó Duinnín. Ciarán Ó Duinnín also created space for himself on the edge of the square, and his right-footed shot went just wide at the far post.

This was where the game was won, as the best that Cill na Martra could come up with were scores from Miicheál Ó Deasúna, while white flags from Shane Aherne and Cotter polished the win for Douglas at 3-12 to 0-13.

Scorers for Douglas: C Russell 1-6 (0-2 f), D Buckley 1-1, B Powter 1-0, A Cotter (45), S Aherne, C Kingston, K Shanahan, A Cantwell 0-1 each.

Cill na Martra: M Ó Deasúna 0-1-2 (1 2p f, 0-1 45), J MacCárthaigh 0-3 (0-2 f), S Ó Fóirréidh, C Ó Duinnín 0-2 each, S Ó Duinnín, D Ó Duinnín 0-1 each.

DOUGLAS: A Cotter; N Lynch, N Walsh, J O’Callaghan Maher, S Aherne, J Burke, C Kingston, D Buckley, P Lucey, K Shanahan, L Dwan Fogarty, B Powter, S O’Leary, C Russell, A Cantwell.

Subs: N Hartnett for Aherne (42); A O’Hare for O’Leary (49), R Hanley for Dwan Fogarty (55), C Mac Pháidín for Powter (57).

CILL NA MARTRA: D MacCárthaigh; F Ó Faoláin, T Ó Corcora, D Ó Conaill, C Ó Fóirréidh, S Ó Fóirréidh, A Ó Duinnín, M Ó Deasúna, G Ó Goillidhe, J MacCárthaigh, C Ó Duinnín, C Ó Meachair, E Ó Conaill, M Ó Duinnín, S Ó Duinnín.

Subs: D Ó Duinnín for A Ó Duinnín (HT); A Ó Hódhra for C Ó Fóirréidh (42), A Ó Loingsigh for Ó Conaill (49).

Referee: James Regan (Lough Rovers).