Conor Lehane on fire hitting 2-6 as Midleton make light work of Douglas in SHL

Midleton 3-23 

Douglas 0-12 

Conor Lehane hit 2-6 as Midleton’s perfect start to the season continued with a comfortable away from home victory over Douglas in Division One of the RedFM Senior Hurling League on Sunday morning.

Cork U20 star Peter Barrett contributed 1-2, as the club stretched their winning run to eight games with a place in the final already secured.

It was a perfect morning for Padraig O’Shea and his players, against a depleted Douglas side that went into the tie aiming to bounce back from recent defeats to the Glen Rovers and Sarsfields.

Midleton had too much, all over the park, with nine different black and white jerseys finding the target, and only five came from a placed ball.

This began with an 0-3 run that saw David Cremin, Conor Morley, and Lehane split the posts inside five minutes.

Douglas hit back with Cillian O’Donovan, Chris O’Keeffe, and Joe Harte putting the sliotar over the bar from play.

This was as good as it got as Midleton went on to take a commanding 2-12 to 0-10 half-time lead, with a scoring streak kickstarted by Alex Quirke.

Sean O’Meara and Michael Finn were next to raise a white flag, as the club went in front at 0-8 to 0-3.

The moment that really turned things in their favour was a Lehane goal in the 20th minute from the tightest of angles.

Douglas tried to get one of their own from the puck-out, with O’Donovan sending the sliotar forward for Niall Hartnett. Midleton won back possession, went long, and Lehane set up Barrett for a close range finish that put them further in front at 2-10 to 0-5 in the 22nd minute.

Douglas finished the half with Cadogan, O’Donovan, and Andy O’Connell splitting the posts, with each score hard earned while everything felt easy for Midleton.

The game restarted with 1-9 hit by the visitors, beginning with a Lehane 45 and ending with the forward rifling the net from the edge of the square in the 51st minute.

The forward tallied 1-3 during that sequence with Finn, Barrett, O’Meara, Cathal Beausang, Morley, and Cremin also raising white flags during that streak.

O’Donovan offered some sort of response for Douglas, making it 3-21 to 0-11 in the 52nd minute.

Midleton used the time that was left to play to bring on six substitutions, a sign of strength in the closing stages.

Douglas got one more, from play by Liam O’Callaghan, when the game was long over.

Scorers for Douglas: C O’Donovan 0-3; A Cadogan and J Harte 0-2 each, A O’Connell, D Coleman (1f), C O’Keeffe, L O’Callaghan, and Hartnett 0-1 each.

Midleton: C Lehane 2-6 (3 45, 2f); P Barrett 1-2; Cathal Beausang, M Finn, and D Cremin 0-3 each; C Morley 0-2 and S O’Meara 0-2 each; A Quirke and D Egan 0-1 each.

Douglas: D Maher; K McSweeney, D Murphy, S O’Donoghue; S Henry Squires, D Harte, C O’Donovan; A Cadogan, L Fogarty; A O’Connell, J Harte, D Coleman; C Russell, D Murphy, C O’Keeffe.

Subs: N Hartnett for O’Keeffe (19); I Lucey for Fogarty (48), J Cremin for Henry Squires (52), A Baldwin for Hartnett (55), L O’Sullivan for Russell (57).

Midleton: B Saunderson; T Dunlea, S O’Sullivan, S Smyth; A Mulcahy, C Smyth, E McGrath; M Finn, Cormac Beausang; S O’Meara, A Quirke, D Cremin; C Morley, C Lehane, P Barrett.

Subs: K Burke for Dunlea (40); Cormac Beausang for O’Meara (40), C Crowley for Morley (45), D Scanlan for Barrett (45), D Egan for Finn (50), B Rossiter for Saunderson (58).

Referee: Colm Lyons (Nemo Rangers)