Jack Cunningham's two goals help Douglas past Beara into U21 football final

Douglas 2-14 (2-1-12) Beara 0-10 (0-1-8)

Douglas led from wire to wire as they saw off Beara at Macroom on Sunday to book their place in the final of the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork U21 A FC.

Coming in off the back of a good quarter-final win over Ballincollig against a side playing their first game in the competition, Douglas hit the ground running and opened up a 12-point lead inside the first 18 minutes, helped by the first of two Jack Cunningham goals.

By half-time, Beara had reduced the gap slightly to trail by 1-11 to 0-4 and did score the first two points of the second half but Cunningham’s second goal ensured that hopes of a full-blown comeback were never given a chance to properly breathe.

Cunningham finished with 2-2 from play for Douglas, who now play Ibane Gaels in the final, and Seán Coakley’s point-taking also stood out but it was a team effort. The tireless Jack O’Brien dovetailed well alongside the aerial supremacy of Donncha Mac Pháidín at midfield while Donnacha O’Callaghan was superb in defence.

Douglas hit the first four points of the game before Ben O’Sullivan opened the Beara account but the divisional team went close to a goal just after that, Gerard O’Shea shooting wide under pressure.

From there, Douglas drove on, with Cunningham, Coakley and Eoin O’Flynn impressing while Luis Dwan Fogarty got forward from corner-back to make it 0-8 to 0-1 before the goal arrived on 16 minutes. Wing-back Ollie Barry was the architect, producing a lovely delivery from the right corner that fell into Cunningham’s hands, allowing him to slot home.

Coakley’s two-pointer made it 1-10 to 0-1 before points from Tom O’Connor helped Beara to eat into the deficit slightly as half-time approached. However, they had a let-off as Colm Mac Pháidín sent a low effort across goal and wide in injury time.

Beara sub Ultan Murphy marked his interval arrival with a point and they almost had a goal as O’Shea set up Tommy O’Sullivan - goalkeeper James O’Flaherty got a touch on the shot and O’Callaghan was able to clear off the line.

At the other end, Harry Quilligan tested Joseph O’Donovan with a shot before O’Connor’s fourth of the game left it 1-11 to 0-6. That was as close as they came, though - the eight-point gap still pertained at the three-quarter mark when Coakley and sub Daniel Linehan combined to place Cunningham for his second goal.

Another point from the same point had them 12 ahead again - they only scored once more as the game petered out while O’Connor did land a good two-point free for Beara, but the outcome was clear well before the end.

Scorers for Douglas: J Cunningham 2-2, S Coakley 0-6 (1 2pt, 0-1 f), E O’Flynn 0-2, H Quilligan, S O’Leary, J O’Brien, L Dwan Fogarty 0-1 each.

Beara: T O’Connor 0-7 (1 2ptf, 0-3 f), B O’Sullivan, U Murphy, J Spencer 0-1 each.

DOUGLAS: J O’Flaherty; D O’Callaghan, J O’Callaghan Maher, L Dwan Fogarty; O Barry, J Burke, C Mac Pháidín; J O’Brien, D Mac Pháidín; A Young, S Coakley, S O’Leary; E O’Flynn, H Quilligan, J Cunningham.

Subs: D Linehan for Young (half-time), C O’Keeffe for Quilligan (45, injured), J Mouret for Dwan Fogarty, J Hartnett for D Mac Pháidín (both 52), E Collins for Cunningham (60).

BEARA: J O’Donovan (Urhan); S Power (Glengarriff), C Downing (Adrigole), S Collins (Adrigole); D Harrington (Glengarriff), M Downing (Adrigole), C McElhinney (Glengarriff); G O’Shea (Adrigole), P Harrington (Glengarriff); J Hanley (Castletownbere), B O’Sullivan O’Connell (Glengarriff), N O’Shea (Urhan); B O’Sullivan (Adrigole), T O’Sullivan (Adrigole), T O’Connor (Adrigole).

Subs: D Walsh (Castletownbere) for Power (27, injured), J Spencer (Castletownbere) for P Harrington, U Murphy for O’Sullivan O’Connell (both half-time), O Murphy (Castletownbere) for T O’Sullivan, O Lynch for Collins (both 51).

Referee: L O’Shea (Carbery Rangers).