Douglas give themselves a shot at avoiding relegation but focus is on playing positive football
Douglas’ Lois Dawn Fogarty sails through midfield with ease against Cill na Martra. Picture: Noel Sweeney
On a glorious Sunday morning in the Muskerry Gaeltacht, Douglas emerged with a crucial victory over Cill na Martra in the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork Football League Division 1.
In what was a solid collective performance that saw the likes of Seán Coakley and goal-scorer Sean O’Leary to the fore, Douglas came out on top with a 1-17 to 2-13 victory on the road and a second league victory of the campaign.
There is no shortage of talent flowing from the underage ranks in Douglas over recent years. Tasked with putting it all together for Douglas at senior level is Conor Buckley, who has the Cork 2010 All-Ireland winner Paudie Kissane alongside him as a coach.
In the Premier SFC, Douglas are in a group which also contains St Finbarr's, Carrigaline and Mallow. The opening game of the championship for Douglas is against Mallow on July 25.
Douglas will be hoping that 2026 is the year it all can click together and a voyage into the knockout stages of the championship will be on the agenda.
“Every championship game is important. It would be nice to get out of the group,” Buckley tells
“It is about time Douglas got out of the group. We have had a couple of narrow misses to getting out of the group. So it is about time and that is a target for us this year.
“It would be nice to go into the championship without injuries. We would hope to get guys back and we would hope to as many as we can fit for that Mallow match.”
On the importance of the league campaign, the Douglas boss added it has been useful preparation, with a number of players featuring from the Douglas U21 county-winning side from last year.
“A lot of young players have played quite a lot of the league. Some of the established players have maybe gone away or missing for various reasons, with injuries and travel.
“But there is a good blend of youth and experience. We would like to be higher up the league table and today is another two points towards that.”
Giving his assessment of the Douglas performance and result against Cill na Martra, Buckley added: “It was a beautiful day for football. We made hard work of it at times, but we played good football in other periods.
“It was neck and neck and could have gone either way. But we were lucky to get our scores in the finish. It was good enough today to get us over the line and we needed those two points.”
Douglas have remaining league games to play against St Finbarr’s at home and Castlehaven away.
“To play positive football obviously is the aim. Avoiding the drop is in the back of our minds, but playing positive football and getting better for the championship is our main focus.
“Doing that, it would be nice to avoid the drop along the way."
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