Kevin Flahive: Shedding fear factor has turned Douglas into believers
Douglas' Kevin Flahive breaks watched by Sean Powter against Valley Rovers. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
To hear Flahive make such a statement, one delivered with no hint of arrogance or overconfidence, is hardly surprising when you actually sit down and study this Douglas team.
From numbers two through nine on the Douglas teamsheet, there are four Cork seniors in Flahive, Nathan Walsh, Sean Powter, and Brian Hartnett, while two more from the Douglas defence and midfield — Sean Wilson and Niall Hartnett — were in and around the Cork senior panel in recent seasons.
Further forward, Conor Russell was a sub on the Cork U20 team that won the 2019 All-Ireland, Shane Aherne and Alan O’Hare were part of the Cork minor panel that also tasted All-Ireland success two seasons ago, while Brian Lynch was past of last year’s U20 team.
Bring together all of the above and the potential of Ray Keating’s side is undeniable, a collective potential that raised its head during the second half of their come-from-behind final round group win over back-to-back champions Nemo Rangers.
As Flahive rightly points out, though, one performance won’t win them this year’s county championship and so the job in tomorrow’s semi-final against Clonakilty is to do what Douglas have failed to do in recent years and that is back up one statement display with another.
No use knocking out three-in-a-row chasing Nemo if Douglas themselves are shuffled through the same exit door the very next afternoon they take the field.
“Consistency, that was our biggest issue the last few years,” begins the 25-year-old Cork corner-back.
“We definitely have had players and teams that could put up a performance, but one performance doesn’t win you a championship. Last year, we let ourselves down once or twice.
“This weekend, I have full belief in our team and if we work hard and play to our ability, we will do ourselves justice and I do think that that will get us over the line whoever we play. If we play to our potential, we are capable of achieving whatever we go out to achieve.
“This year, we have belief in ourselves. We think we are good enough to win a county.”
It was this very belief that was central to their refusal to fold when back-to-back champions Nemo — a side Douglas had never before beaten in the Cork senior championship —moved 0-8 to 0-4 clear six minutes into the second half of their winner-takes-all Group A fixture. The Douglas response was to kick the game’s next six points.
“This year, it’s a fresh group of players. We have a lot of young fellas after coming in who don’t really have any fear. Shane Aherne, Alan O’Hare, and Aaron Sheehy, these are all fantastic players coming through.
“At the start of the year, there were a couple of challenge games where we were able to get a good number of scores in short spells. We always said that regardless of the position we are in, we have the capabilities to get back into games. That showed in the Nemo game. We were 0-8 to 0-4 down. Two years ago, that would have been curtains for us. We would have just dropped the heads and made mistakes.
“I really felt it was huge for us to get over the line against Nemo. But at the end of your career when you look back, that is not going to be a highlight, you want to go on and win things.”
To win this weekend would progress the Cork city club to just a second ever Cork senior football final, their one and only previous involvement —unsuccessful involvement at that — coming in 2008.
“I remember going to watch the 2008 final, I was only a young fella at the time,” Flahive continued.
“Clon, no more than ourselves, will be absolutely gunning to get back to a final. I know Clon definitely fancy their chances against us. It is going to be a good game and these are the games you want to be involved in. I do think it will come down to who wants it more.
“We are taking the Clon game as our county final. It really is because if we take it any other way, we won’t get through.”
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