Alan Cadogan and Conor O'Donovan razor sharp as Douglas defeat Fr O'Neills
Alan Cadogan, Douglas, holding onto Mike Millerick, Fr O'Neills, in the RedFM Division 1 HL match at Douglas. Picture Dan Linehan
A blistering closing five minutes from Douglas saw them gain a deserved win over Fr O’Neill’s in a competitive Red FM Division 1 Hurling League clash on Sunday.
The city side had seven changes from the side that played St Finbarr’s in their last game and manager Fergus Ryan is bound to be happy with the resilience showed when defeat stared them in the face.
Credit to the hosts they started in a blistering fashion that saw open up with six consecutive points in the opening seven minutes. In that period former Cork star Alan Cadogan was outstanding and with full-forward Conor O’Donovan posing the visitors all sorts of problems the city side looked simply awesome.
Eventually eight minutes into the game the east Cork side realised they were in a competitive game with Rob Cullinane splitting the posts.
A minute later Joe Millerick followed with their second white flag, but Douglas were putting it up to O’Neill’s in many departments.
The one noticeable factor for Douglas was their ability to win dirty ball and with many of their players hooking and blocking their opponents looked shell-shocked.
Gradually Fr O’Neill’s got to grips with the dominant Douglas outfit and with the excellent Kevin O’Sullivan striking consecutive points the deficit was reduced to two points midway through the half.
In the majority of league games this season Fr O’Neill’s have shown an eye for goal and they raised the opening green flag with a splendid move. A terrific run by Billy Dunne saw him assist a pass to the inrushing Mikey Wall who had little difficulty finding the back of the net.
The closing minutes of the half were competitive, but O’Sullivan took his scoring tally to four points on the stroke of half time that saw the visitors go in at the break leading by the minimum 1-9 to 0-11.
On the restart, O’Neill’s increased the tempo and three consecutive points increased their lead to four points in the 39th minute. In recent seasons Douglas didn’t respond in similar games but have a newfound hunger and a cracking Conor Kingston point got them up and running in the 41st minute.
That score seemed to give them confidence and a Shane Baldwin white flag in the 49th minute brought the minimum between the teams.
The home side kept hustling their opponents and with eight minutes remaining, they were rewarded with a magnificent goal.
A high ball into the square was caught by the athletic Niall Hartnett who showed no mercy when billowing the back of the net.
The game was still there to be won and Douglas found the extra gears coming down the stretch that started with a clinical Daniel Harte point.
Three unanswered white flags followed as Douglas found the answers when the questions were asked.
The final game against Glen Rovers will be interesting for Douglas and their championship campaign will interesting with a full complement of players.
A Cadogan 0-9 (0-4 f), C O’Donovan 0-6, N Hartnett 1-0, D Harte 0-2, B O’Connor, C Baldwin, C Kingston, J Harte 0-1 each.
K O’Sullivan 0-11 (0-6 f, 0-1 65), M Wall 1-0, J Millerick, R Cullinane 0-2 each, P O’Sullivan (f), C O’Leary 0-1 each.
D Maher; D Murphy, B O’Neill, K McSweeney; D Harte, M Howell, C O’Donovan; C Kingston, S O’Donoghue; B O’Connor, N Hartnett, C Baldwin; A Cadogan, C O’Donovan, P O’Sullivan.
J Harte for P O’Sullivan (h-t), L McCarthy for S O’Donoghue (45), D O’Mahony for J Harte (inj 48).
P O'Sullivan; M Millerick, R Kenneally, O Steele; M O’Keeffe, D O’Keeffe, D O’Neill; John Millerick, Joe Millerick; R Cullinane, K O’Sullivan, P Hassett; J Shine, B Dunne, M Wall.
C O’Leary for J Shine (45), J O’Brien for D O’Neill (49), M O’Neill for R Cullinane (inj 50), D Scanlon for M Wall (inj 55).
Patrick O’Mahony (Kilbrittain).
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