Conor Crowley kicks seven points as Douglas beat Nemo Rangers to claim the U16 Premier 1 Football League title

Douglas 3-12 

Nemo Rangers 1-7 

Conor Crowley kicked seven points as Douglas claimed the Rebel Og Coiste Fe 16 Premier 1 Football League title with a 3-12 to 1-7 victory over near rivals Nemo Rangers at Shanbally on Monday night.

The forward’s haul was part of a near perfect attacking performance for the club that also included a brace of goals for Harry Whelan and one for Ciaran Galvin.

Douglas had too much in the tank, with the game won in the first half as the team went into the break with a commanding 2-5 to 0-4 advantage. The club would have been further in front if not for four wides and two efforts that dropped short over the course of the first half hour.

Nemo did take the lead on the night through white flags from Darragh Harrington and Darragh Kelleher, and Douglas hit back with a rapid fire 1-1. Crowley started it from play and the green flag arrived in the 7th minute with a neat cross field pass that was turned in by Whelan.

Cillian McCarthy and Crowley kept the scoreboard ticking over before Nemo replied with a two pointer from Cian O’Flaherty.

Cian Lehane replied for Douglas and the club got their second green flag in the dying seconds when Galvin finished off a neat move involving McCarthy and Cillian McAuliffe. 

They won the kick-out and set up Lehane for a fisted effort that made it 2-5 to 0-4, a sizeable lead that could have been more.

Douglas saw out the second half with relative ease, while making sure there was no room for a Nemo Rangers comeback.

Crowley raised three white flags on the restart and then Whelan got his second goal with a searing run, increasing their advantage to 3-8 to 0-4.

Both sides started emptying their bench, at a point when Nemo started dropping the ball onto the square in a bid to create a goal chance.

Douglas continued to generate scores in response, with Crowley adding two more to his collection on the 50th minute.

Nemo did goal in the 55th minute through Harrington from close range, but it was too little too late.

Douglas remained in front at 3-11 to 1-7 and continued to control proceedings, almost all over the park.

It was a pleasing win for the club, especially against their near rivals before championship starts.

Scorers for Douglas: C Crowley 0-7 (3f); H Whelan 2-0, C Galvin 1-0, C Lehane and R Walshe 0-2 each; C McCarthy 0-1.

Nemo Rangers: D Harrington 1-1; C O’Flaherty 0-3 (1 2pt from free), C Morgan and D O’Mahony, and A Murphy 0-1 each.

Douglas: S Barriscale; M Daly, F Rudden, T Finnegan; H Howell, E Cronin, F Cregan; R Walshe, C McAuliffe; C Lehane, C Crowley, H Whelan; B Murphy, C Galvin, C McCarthy.

Subs: J Parkes for Cregan (39); C Tynan for Galvin (47), O O’Driscoll for Murphy (50), S O’Connell for Lehane (52), S Keating for Finnegan (55).

Nemo Rangers: R Horgan; R Hayes, L Murphy, J McCarthy; R Nagle, M Dietze, M O’Leary; C Fitzpatrick, R Moriarty; D Kelleher, D O’Flaherty, C Morgan; A Murphy, D Harrington, D O’Mahoney.

Subs: S McGauran for Hayes (HT); K Healy for Kelleher (44), C Curran for O’Mahoney (48), T O’Riordan for Morgan (50), C Twohig for R Moriarty (52), D Power for Murphy (58), H Moriarty for O’Flaherty (58).

Referee: Brendan Barrett (Shamrocks)