Cadogan pulls Douglas clear

Douglas 0-09 Newcestown 0-05

There were only nine points from play over the hour, but by the end nobody could quibble with Douglas’s status as victors – especially as they were without key players Eoin Cadogan, Mark Harrington, Cormac Dineen and Ray Keating. When required in the second half, they produced the increase in their performance levels, augmenting their 0-4 to 0-3 half-time advantage and defending stoutly against a surprisingly lacklustre Newcestown.

With the pressure of the opener out of the way, Douglas manager Tony Leen has now challenged his side to deliver on their sizeable potential and make a proper impact in the latter stages of the championship.

“We made hard work of it, there’s no doubt it,” he said.

“I think probably there’s a lack of belief in the lads at times, I’ve said it to them that Douglas are a September/October team. There’s a lot of pressure in the first round and for 40 minutes we looked like a team under pressure.

“I thought we dominated the game generally, but we couldn’t put them away. I think that was a combination of nervousness and a lack of experience of the situation. With the pressure off, you’d like to see them express themselves more.”

They did eventually express themselves here as the second half progressed, but the battling qualities also had to be present. In a first half laden with errors due to the tough conditions, both sides passed up good chances but Newcestown looked to be in a good position as points from James Desmond (free) and midfield powerhouse Fionn Keane put them 0-3 to 0-1 ahead.

Tadhg Twomey was showing signs of danger in attack, forcing Frank Tobin to commit a black-card offence, but Cork minor captain Kevin Flahive did well when moved on him. Alan Cadogan sent over a pair of points to level before David Hanrahan put Douglas ahead in injury time after Jamie Davis kept Shane McCarthy’s free alive.

In the second half, Davis at centre-forward would be a key man for Douglas, providing a supply line to Cadogan. Leen hailed the U21 player’s performance while also looking for others to help take the scoring burden off Cadogan, who got five of the nine points.

“We’re trying a new system,” he said, “and I’m sure people haven’t seen Jamie play up front before.

“I just think he’s a natural footballer. He’s going to be a very good link-man for us this season.

“Obviously, Alan Cadogan is a focal point, it’s lunacy not to play the ball into the guy, he’s one of the form forwards in the county but you’d like to think that we’ll develop more over the summer and have guys to chip in with a couple of scores.

“Nine points might win you a first-round game but a championship team needs to be getting 12 or 14 scores.”

Eleven minutes into the second half, it was Cadogan who played in Davis and he broke through two challenges and was about to shoot to the net when referee James Bermingham called play back for a free in, which Cadogan converted for 0-5 to 0-3.

Wing-forward Seán Collins also showed up well in the second period, working hard to help the defence and scoring twice, the latter the best move of the game involving Odhran Mulrooney, Hanrahan and Flahive. At the back, full-back Dave McSweeney brought all of his experience to bear with an assured display.

With a 0-7 to 0-4 lead with 11 minutes left, Douglas should really have put the game to bed as Hanrahan initiated a break with an overlap. His point attempt was blocked and when Cadogan’s came back off the post the ball fell again to the Cork sub goalkeeper but he screwed his effort wide.

Newcestown sub Rick Bradfield magnified the importance of that miss as he pointed at the other end but Douglas displayed no fragility with a two-point lead and Newcestown suffered through the loss of Tadhg Twomey to a frustration-fuelled black card.

Cadogan and McCarthy helped them to see out the game, condemning Newcestown to a second-round clash with Ilen Rovers. Their manager Tom Wilson had no complaints.

“We didn’t play anywhere near where we needed or expected to play,” he said.

“We’ve been playing well all year, we came here with hope and a certain amount of expectation that we’d perform well and maybe win. We didn’t win enough secondary ball around midfield.”

Scorers for Douglas: A Cadogan (0-5, 3fs), S Collins (0-2), S McCarthy, D Hanrahan (0-1 each).

Scorers for Newcestown: J Desmond (0-2fs), F Keane, G O’Driscoll, R Bradfield (0-1 each).

DOUGLAS: B Boyle; D McSweeney, F Tobin, P Shine; K Flahive, J Collins, J Lane; O Mulrooney, É Mulrooney; S Collins, J Davis, M O’Callaghan; D Hanrahan, A Cadogan, S McCarthy.

Subs: T Sheehan for Tobin (15, bc), M Carroll for O’Callaghan (53), F Desmond for Collins (58).

NEWCESTOWN: C White; M McSweeney, J Crowley, J Desmond; T Hogan, D Twomey, L Meade; F Keane, E Kelly; G O’Driscoll, M O’Brien, D Heffernan; C Keane, T Twomey, M Kelly.

Subs: C O’Neill for O’Brien (24, inj), R Bradfield for Heffernan (44), O Keane for M Kelly (51), C O’Neill for T Twomey (52, bc).

Referee: J Bermingham (Bride Rovers).