Douglas hold off late Sars fightback to secure minor final spot

FULL COMMITMENT: Sarsfields' Sean Bracken blocks down this ball from Douglas' Sam Sheedy during the Premier 1 MHC semi final at Bishopstown. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

Premier 1 MHC semi-final

Douglas 0-17 Sarsfields 2-9

Douglas minors will have the chance to secure a rare double-double after their dramatic Premier 1 MHC semi-final victory over Sars in Bishopstown on Monday night.

Having won the minor double last year and with the footballers having already secured this year’s Premier 1 MFC title, the hurlers can now complete the set if they beat Glen Rovers in the decider, likely to be next Monday.

Douglas were the dominant side throughout and built up an impressive nine-point lead in the second half. Sars turned it on in the last 10 minutes, scoring five points on the bounce plus a well taken goal by Finn O’Connor, to reduce the deficit to a single point (0-16 to 2-9) with two minutes to go. Mark O’Brien then went down the other end and scored the clincher for Douglas.

Douglas started the brighter with a handful of well-taken scores in the opening eight minutes but Sars pulled their way back into it thanks to Callum Austin who was sharpest for Sars on the day.

After 20 minutes Harry Cogan set up Austin who smashed the ball past Michael Kelly into the net off his stronger left side for the first goal of the game.

Ronan Dooley was the talisman for Douglas with 0-10, 0-6 from frees. He scored four very impressive points from play, all from difficult angles. Douglas went in 0-8 to 1-4 at the short whistle.

The second-half saw much less fortune for Sars who went scoreless from the 27th to the 42nd minute with Douglas completely dominant in all areas of the pitch.

They stretched their lead to nine points (0-16 to 1-4) before Sars mounted their late comeback. Ultimately, the Sars lads will rue 13 wides overall but they clawed it back to within a point with six scores on the bounce including a brilliant goal from Finn O’Connor who blasted the sliotar into the roof of the net after being set up by fellow substitute Darragh O’Flynn.

In a dramatic few minutes of injury time, Sars’ Finn O’Connor had a golden opportunity to level the game with a pop from wide but it slipped by the wrong side of the posts.

Scorers for Douglas: R Dooley (0-10, 6f), M O’Brien (0-4), D Murray, D Taaffe, J O’Brien (0-1).

Scorers for Sars: C Austin (1-6, 5f), F O’Connor (1-0), B O’Flynn (0-2, 1f), D O’Flynn (0-1).

Douglas: M Kelly; J Mouret, B O’Hehir, L Kelliher; O Haynes Barry, D Reddington, D MacPhaidín; Jack O’Brien, S Sheedy; C Hallahan, R Dooley, D Murray; T Lucas, M O’Brien, D Taaffe.

Subs: K Fitzgerald for T Lucas (59).

Sarsfields: J Austin; J Tierney, R Barry, B Galvin; J McMahon, J Huggins, C Quirke; S Bracken, D O’Donovan; C Austin, H Cogan, A Dunlea, Z Herlihy, D McCarthy, B O’Flynn. 

Subs: L Hogan for R Barry (17), R McCarthy for D McCarthy (43), D O’Flynn for Z Herlihy (43), F O’Connor for H Cogan (49).

Referee: Mark Maher (St Finbarrs).