Douglas crowned minor league football champions after seven-goal thriller with Nemo

Douglas 3-14 (3-0-14) Nemo Rangers 4-9 (4-0-9)

Douglas were crowned Premier 1 minor football league champions after their win over Nemo Rangers at MTU on Thursday night.

They were made to fight all the way by Nemo, who were outstanding in the second half and can consider themselves a little unlucky not to at least get a draw from this encounter.

In the end, it was the three first-half goals that were key for Douglas to see them take the cup, inspired by the likes of Diarmuid O’Donoghue and Joe Mouret.

Mark O’Brien opened the scoring for Douglas with Dara O’Sullivan getting Nemo off the mark from a free to make it 0-1 each. With eight minutes gone, Douglas got their first goal when Joe Mouret set up O’Brien to score. 

From the restart, Douglas had their second, this time Eoin Gibson releasing Thomas Murray, to make it 2-1 to 0-1. Gibson and O’Brien added points as Douglas stretched their lead, before Cian Power registered Nemo’s second point.

Gibson and Power exchanged points before Douglas had their third goal. Gibson was the provider again, this time setting up Ben O’Keeffe to find the back of the net, to make it 3-4 to 0-3.

With five minutes to half time Nemo were back in contention when O’Sullivan, who was outstanding all through, got the first of their goals. Their second soon followed, this time Luke Neenan scoring, to make it 3-7 to 2-4.

Two late points for Douglas had them 3-9 to 2-4 in front at half-time.

O’Sullivan got the first score after the break, with Herlihy, Gibson and Ronan Sweeney replying for Douglas. Then Nemo had their best spell of the game, with O’Sullivan reducing the deficit, before Oisin Jordan got their third goal, to make to cut the gap to six points.

Nemo were now on top, and it didn’t take long for them to raise another green flag. A ball across the square was slotted home by Jonathan McLaughlin to put only two between the sides, 4-7 to 3-12.

Murray pointed for Douglas, with two from O’Sullivan making it a one-point game with time running out.

Deep into injury time, Murray scored again to secure the win for Douglas after a top-class hour of football and one that will do them good ahead of their upcoming championship semi-final.

Nemo will be left wondering what might have been as had they played like that in their championship ties they could still have been in contention.

Scorers for Douglas: M O’Brien 1-3, T Murray 1-2, B O’Keeffe 1-1, E Gibson 0-3, B Herlihy 0-2 f, J Mouret, J O’Brien, R Sweeney 0-1 each.

Nemo Rangers: D O’Sullivan 1-6 (0-2 f), L Neenan, O Jordan, J McLaughlin 1-0 each, C Power 0-2, M Scott 0-1.

DOUGLAS: J O’Flaherty; C O’Donoghue, P Rudden, D O’Donoghue; J Mouret, L Kelleher, J Gordon; R Sweeney, J O’Brien; B O’Keeffe, D O’Connor, E Gibson; B Herlihy, M O’Brien, T Murray.

Subs: I Butler for P Rudden (ht), P McGrath for J O’Brien (41), O Doherty for D O’Connor (58), K Kavanagh for B Herlihy (59).

NEMO RANGERS: F Dietze; D Kelleher, J Randles, R Sheehan; E Fitzpatrick, C Power, A Quinlivan; D Callanan, M Keenan; L Neenan, C Twohig, L Butler; J Foley, O Jordan, D O’Sullivan.

Subs: J McLaughlin for C Twohig, L O’Leary for J Randles, M Scott for L Neenan (all ht).

Referee: Oisin Doyle, Bandon.