Premier SHC: Ronan Dooley saves Douglas at the death for share of spoils against Kanturk

Douglas 0-21 

Kanturk 2-15 

Ronan Dooley rescued Douglas in what was a cracking second half with Kanturk as both teams had to settle for a draw in this Co-Op SuperStores Premier SHC Group 3 Round 2 encounter at Castletownroche on Saturday evening.

After both teams suffered losses first day out two weeks ago, room for error was very slim in this one and it showed in the first half in a nervy display where both teams struggled to gain a foothold.

Douglas did lead by a point at half-time having played with a strong wind, but they looked in trouble when Kanturk banged in two quick goals to lead by four points in the closing stages.

The city team showed character though with Cork senior hurler Shane Kingston playing an influential role in the comeback.

It did look like they ran out of time, but four minutes into added time, Dooley popped up with a point from close range. 

Kanturk had Tommy Walsh available as he picked up Shane Kingston after the Cork senior footballer won his appeal following a red card shown last time out against Blackrock.

A draw probably was the fairest result here. The teams were level 13 times over the course of the hour. The draw means Blackrock are through to the knockout stages with a group game to spare.

Douglas were slow out of the blocks. A Colin Walsh point after 70 seconds got Kanturk up and running before the same player had a goal opportunity four minutes in after being set up by Lorcan O’Neill, but his effort didn’t have enough power to beat Douglas goalkeeper Donal Maher.

Quick-fire points from Shane Kingston and Conor O’Donovan were well worked scores for Douglas. But it was a scrappy opening with both teams guilty of some poor shooting.

With the stakes high, both teams didn’t get a consistent run going for some time, though Kanturk did land three of the next four points with Colin Walsh pointing and also having a say in the other scores, 0-4 to 0-3 to the Duhallow team after 15 minutes.

The sides traded points in what was a first half short of quality even if the wind was causing havoc.

Kanturk continued to shade it approaching the interval as they led 0-7 to 0-6 with two minutes to the break, but points from Joseph Harte and Shane Kingston (free) gave the city outfit a slender 0-8 to 0-7 half-time advantage.

Wind-assisted Kanturk started the new half sluggishly with Douglas’ Dooley splitting the posts. They possibly could have been further ahead, but it didn’t happen as Alan Walsh raised a white flag to leave the bare minimum in it.

The teams swapped points as neither team could gain a foothold, 0-10 to 0-9 after 38 minutes.

A Brian O’Sullivan boomer did tie up matters. No surprise that the sides shared the next four points, 0-12 each with a quarter of the game left.

A minute later in a rare goal chance, Conor Kingston’s goal-bound effort deflected out for a 65 which Shane Kingston converted.

Douglas continued to have their noses in front, 0-15 to 0-14 ahead until Kanturk grabbed the bull by the horns.

The excellent Brian O’Sullivan goaled after 51 minutes after Colin Walsh played a key role and despite Douglas sub Daniel Harte landing his second point, the Duhallow team got their second goal seven minutes from time when Rory Sheahan billowed the back of the net, 2-14 to 0-16.

Three successive Douglas points left them a point behind. That man Shane Kingston pointed to level the game a minute from time.

A difficult free was converted by Sheahan edged Kanturk ahead and had chances to push further clear.

With time up, Dooley stepped up to rescue Douglas and made sure there was a share of the spoils.

Scorers for Douglas: S Kingston 0-10 (0-4 f, 0-2 65), C O’Donovan 0-3, R Dooley, D Harte 0-2 each, M Howell, C Kingston, A Cadogan, J Harte 0-1 each.

Kanturk: R Sheahan 1-4 (0-4 f), B O’Sullivan 1-3, C Walsh 0-3, A Walsh 0-2, T Walsh, P Walsh, I Walsh 0-1 each.

DOUGLAS: D Maher; D Murphy, B O’Neill, K McSweeney; E O’Flynn, M Howell, J O’Callaghan-Maher; D Kelly, A O’Connell; C Kingston, S Kingston, R Dooley; A Cadogan, J Harte, C O’Donovan.

Subs: S Barron for J Harte (43), D Harte for J O’Callaghan-Maher (50), B O’Connor for D Kelly (62).

Kanturk: G Bucinskas; J McLoughlin, M Healy, C Mullane; L McLoughlin, T Walsh, D Browne; P Walsh, B O’Sullivan; I Walsh, C Walsh, L O’Neill; R Sheahan, A Walsh, J Fitzpatrick.

Subs: D O’Connell for J Fitzpatrick (43), L O’Keeffe for L O’Neill (59), C Sheahan for L McLoughlin (61).

Referee: Aidan Hyland (Kilworth).