Seán Coakley can steer Douglas U21 footballers to county glory

Douglas and Ibane Gaels will battle it out this weekend for silverware with the McCarthy Insurance Group County U21 A Football Championship decider down for decision.

Macroom is the venue tomorrow with throw-in at 2.30pm.

It has been a long year for all of the teams involved in the U21 competition, the divisional section started out in February before the county series got underway over the last month or so.

Bishopstown are the reigning champions until tomorrow after they defeated divisional side Beara in the final last December.

For the winners tomorrow, it would mean so much to them and potentially a springboard to kick on at adult level in the years to come.

Douglas, despite a huge amount of underage success, have only won one county football title at U21 level, which was back in 2017.

Douglas were tipped even before a ball was kicked at the start of the year as one of the main contenders for the prize.

Conor Buckley’s side have had to do it the hard way. They defeated the holders Bishopstown in the City semi-final before outgunning a strong Nemo Rangers side in the divisional decider.

The county quarter-final pitted them against Ballincollig and the expectation was that whoever came out on top in that one would be fancied to go all the way.

A Chris O’Keeffe goal late on was the decisive score as Douglas won 1-9 to 0-10.

They backed it up by beating Beara in the last four two weeks ago on a scoreline of 2-14 to 0-10.

It’s a very exciting Douglas team with a bit of quality and steel.

Former Cork minor football goalkeeper James O’Flaherty is solid in between the sticks.

He’s well protected in front of him with James O’Callaghan-Maher and Luis Dwan-Fogarty having experienced first-team action already with Douglas.

Seán Coakley is a brilliant footballer and one to keep an eye on not just tomorrow but in the coming years.

Coakley made his debut for Douglas’ Premier Senior footballers this season.

Eoin O’Flynn, Harry Quilligan and Jack Cunningham will also be integral in the forward ranks.

After a challenging number of years at adult level for Douglas, lifting the county U21 A trophy tomorrow could well be the kickstart they need to make an impact at adult level.