Donoughmore crush Nemo Rangers to reach JAFC county final
Scott Barrett, Donoughmore getting his first goal against Frederic Dietze of Nemo Rangers in the Junior A Football Championship semi-final match at Glenville, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
By the finish, the margin was 21, but it could have been more.
Donoughmore were utterly dominant from the first whistle to the last on Saturday, brushing aside Nemo Rangers to book their place in the Cork Junior A Football Championship final – a date now set with Kilmacabea for a coveted place in the PJFC.
Their control was as emphatic as the scoreline suggests, untouchable in a first half at Glenville where every single score came from play.
It’s rare to see a side dictate an opening period so completely, yet this one was over almost before it began. Donoughmore had rattled off 1-3 before Nemo had managed a shot, and were 1-5 up by the time the city side got off the mark in the 16th minute.
They were rampant on the Nemo kickout, winning almost half of Nemo’s kickouts by the finish. They forced turnover after turnover, and turned those into score after score.
They hit the mark early, David McDonnell curling a superb early two-pointer before turning provider for Scott Barrett’s goal, the first of three green strikes.
Jack O’Brien had a goal effort brilliantly saved by Kevin O’Riordan, the first of two big stops from the Donoughmore ‘keeper.
For Nemo’s third team, it quickly became an uphill climb that only got steeper. While a Lyons free cut the deficit to seven after 19 minutes, they were buried by the break.
Donoughmore hit 1-6 unanswered over the next nine minutes, McDonnell with another excellent point, Daniel Holland with a white and orange flag, before Gavin O’Sullivan sent Barrett through for his second goal.
They added two more white flags before Nemo finally landed their third point, another free, leaving it 2-12 to 0-3 at the break. But the pattern scarcely shifted in the latter act.
Lyons and Bill Twohig managed points, and the former was denied a goal by O’Riordan’s brilliant reflexes, but in one moment Nemo’s marginal progress was undone. McDonnell and Declan Keating worked it to Holland, and he fired cleanly to the bottom corner, 3-12 to 0-5.
By the 47th minute, the gap had swelled to 18. Nemo managed two more points – one a smart volleyed effort from Lyons, the other from corner-back Shane O’Dwyer – but they would not score again.
Donoughmore saw it out with ease. Keating knocked over two frees – their first placed balls of the game in the 54th and 56th minutes – O’Sullivan converted a two-point free, and Donnacha Morrissey thundered forward to cap a fine personal display with a point of his own.
He wasn’t the only standout in black and white, corner-backs Rory Honohan and Sean Broderick forced countless turnovers, and Sean O’Hanlon controlled the middle.
No need for late comebacks here, and the Donoughmore dream continues.
S Barrett 2-1, D Holland 1-4 (1 tp), D McDonnell 0-5 (1 tp), D Keating 0-3 (0-2 f), G O’Sullivan 0-2 (tpf), K O’Connell, A Dinan, R Honohan, D Morrissey 0-1 each.
J Lyons 0-4 (0-3 f), B Twohig, G Barrett, S O’Dwyer 0-1 each.
K O’Riordan; R Honohan, D Forde, S Broderick; D Morrissey, J Crowley, K O’Connell; S O’Hanlon, M Lucey; A Dinan, G O’Sullivan, D Holland; D Keating, D McDonnell, S Barrett.
L O’Sullivan for Lucey (HT), J Twomey for S Barrett (41), C O’Callaghan for Holland (45), S Golden for Broderick (51), K McCarthy for O’Hanlon (55), D O’Connell for Dinan (60+1 inj).
F Dietze; S O’Dwyer, I Nolan, D Egan; C Kavanagh, J O’Brien, E Diloughrey; D Callanan, M Keenan; B Twohig, G Barrett, P O’Dwyer; S Nagle, A Brown, J Lyons.
A O’Reilly for Kavanagh (HT), J Philpott for Brown, B O’Connor for P O’Dwyer (both 45), J Buckley for Barrett, D Kelly for E Diloughrey (both 51).
J Bermingham (Bride Rovers)
App?
