Classy Carrigaline secure semi spot against Douglas with composed display
Brian Coakley was on song for Carrigaline against Douglas. Picture: Chani Anderson
History made. An hour from further history. Unbeaten Carrigaline have entered uncharted ground.
The sole Premier Senior outfit to extract maximum points from their three group outings, it was Carrigaline who stood out and stood alone come the final whistle in all six Round 3 matches early on Sunday evening.
The top seeding was theirs. Direct progression to the county semi-final was theirs, what will be a historic first-ever county semi-final appearance for the club.
Fallers at the quarter-final stage last year when losing to Newcestown on penalties, the quarters will not concern Michael Meaney's charges on this occasion. Theirs is a fully merited bypassing of the quarter-finals.
Having marked themselves out on the opening evening of county championship fare in late July when bettering the Barrs, Carrigaline have now twice backed up that result.
Without Brian O’Driscoll and Callum Barrett, they succeeded in edging past Mallow. Cork senior O’Driscoll returned for this final group fixture, his vision, dictating of tempo, and winning of frees very much in the supporting role to the orange awesomeness of Brian Coakley.
Behind by 0-8 to 0-6 at the break after Douglas corner-forward Conor Russell swung over a thumping two-pointer with the last kick of the opening half, Carrigaline wasted precious little time in utilising the breeze now at their back.
In the eight minutes after the restart, the orange flag at the clubhouse end of Shanbally worked double-time. Four two-pointers Carigaline sailed over.
Kevin O’Reilly was first, the full-forward’s orange flag immediately following the white flag he’d just raised to return Carrigaline in front no more than 90 seconds upon the resumption.
Half-back Dave Griffin deserves most of the credit for the next orange flag. His block on a Shane Kingston point attempt was followed by the same player then winning a free at the other end which Brian Coakley floated over from outside the arc.
Brian O’Driscoll and Coakley added two more and by the 38th minute a 0-8 to 0-6 half-time deficit was a 0-15 to 0-10 Carrigaline lead.
On this snakes and ladders final afternoon in Group A, the two interval scorelines of a Douglas lead and Barrs-Mallow stalemate had Douglas top of the group and county champions St Finbarr's exiting in third place.
And as Mallow continued to live with the Barrs throughout the second half of that game in Kilworth, Douglas no longer needed to be concerned with the four-point win that was required in the expectation of a Barry victory.
A draw here might prove sufficient. As results transpired, a draw would have been sufficient.
It was their half-time substitutes who brought them back into contention once the orange flag finally went on lunch. Seán Coakley’s 39th-minute point attempt fell short. James Burke gathered and delivered a composed, low finish beyond Ryan Delaney.
The Douglas major left two between them. That would twice more be the state of play as proceedings entered the final quarter.
Coakley’s second free on 49 minutes for a 0-17 to 1-12 scoreline represented Douglas’ last stand. It was to prove their sole score from the 43rd minute onward.
The group leaders sprinted towards a first Premier Senior semi-final. Brian Coakley brought his orange flag count to four. Jack McCarthy’s display of graft and incision finished with 0-3. Éanna Desmond and Niall Coakley also swelled their personal tallies.
The inefficiency of six first-half wides had been superbly corrected. Waste and poor decision-making was given no truck during a 0-16 second-half.
They are to be reckoned with. They will want further history.
B Coakley 0-9 (tp 3 tp f), K O'Reilly (tp), J McCarthy 0-3 each, B O'Driscoll (tp), N Coakley (f), E Desmond 0-2 each, D Greene 0-1.
C Russell 0-5 (tp, 0-1 f), J Burke 1-0, D Ward (tp), S Coakley (f), A Cantwell 0-2 each, S Kingston 0-1.
R Delaney; B Murphy, C O'Herlihy, Kieran Kavanagh; D Griffin, B O'Driscoll, C Barry; Kevin Kavanagh, J McCarthy; D Greene, N Coakley, K McCarthy; B Coakley, K O'Reilly, E Desmond.
F O'Connell for Griffin (45); S Andrews for D Greene (53), C Kearney for O'Reilly (56); K O'Reilly for B Coakley (64, inj).
A Cotter; J Mouret, C Kenny, D Ward; S Aherne, L Dwan-Fogarty, D Buckley; N Hartnett, D MacPhaidín; K Shanahan, B Powter, A Cantwell; J Cunningham, S Kingston, C Russell.
S Coakley for Powter, J Burke for Shanahan (both HT); C Kingston for D MacPhaidín, J O'Brien for Cunningham (both 45); C MacPhaidín for Cantwell (53).
N Hayes
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