Shane Kingston steers improved Douglas out of trouble
Mallow's Mark Tobin under pressure from Douglas' Donnchadh Murphy and Niall Hartnett in their McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC at Grenagh. Pic: Eddie O'Hare
In the end, both Douglas and Mallow got what they needed, if not quite what they wanted in Grenagh.
Despite the loss, Mallow move onto a championship quarter-final meeting with Muskerry in two weeks’ time as their score difference was superior to that of Valley Rovers.
For Douglas, the 2024 season is over, and though the win ensured that they won’t face the ignominy of a relegation playoff, there will be more than a tinge of regret after they played their best football of the year here when they needed it most.
Their coach, Paul Holland, acknowledged as much afterwards.“First and foremost, we were under big pressure to come here and avoid being sucked into the relegation game. We trained very well since the Valleys game, played a couple of quality challenge games and performed very well in them.
"And I think we learned a massive lesson the night of the Valleys game. It was a very expensive lesson for this group. While we’re very, very disappointed to be out of the championship, there is a small bit of satisfaction that fellas knuckled down, they took the lessons on board, and they produced a performance like that.”
Shane Kingston was their top performer on the day, three first half points from him and a brace from full forward, Brian Hartnett, helping them into a 0-8 to 0-2 half time lead. Mallow’s accuracy had let them down – they kicked six wides in each half – but ultimately, their coach,Andrew Cashman is happy to be 60 minutes from a semi-final.
“Ultimately that’s the way we’ve to look at it, for sure. I just said to one of the lads there that had we won the game we’d be in the exact same position. But, I suppose, you can’t hide the disappointment of the performance.
“We certainly have improvements to make in the next two weeks. That’s it, it’s about putting the head down now and looking forward rather than looking back. We’ll learn an awful lot from that game, I think we’ve a lot of young guys who’ll really learn a lot from it. As a group, we just have to get better for a fortnight’s time, simple as that.”
Ultimately Mallow paid the price for their wides and the five points they conceded coming up to the interval. While Kingston, Hartnett and Colm Joyce kept Douglas ticking over on the resumption, three points from Sean McDonnell along with scores from Jack Dillon and Kevin Sheehan had Mallow back to within in five with seven minutes to go, 0-12 to 0-7. However, with Donnchadh Murphy looking solid at full-back, they never looked like getting the goal they needed to spark a comeback. The game finished with Kingston and Padraig Lucey trading points with Dillon and Sam Copps, and while Mallow will be back on the training field onTuesday night, Douglas face into a winter of contemplation.
S Kingston (0-5, 1 free), B Hartnett and C Joyce (0-3 each), A Sheehy, S Powter and P Lucey (0-1 each).
S McDonnell (0-3, 2 frees), J Dillon (0-2), R Harkin, S Copps, M Tobin (free) and K Sheehan (0-1 each).
: A Cotter; S Murphy, D Ward, B Lynch; D Buckley, S Powter, S Aherne; C Kingston, N Hartnett; D Kelly, S Kingston, K Flahive; A Sheehy, B Hartnett, C Joyce.
: J O’Callaghan Maher for Ward (inj, 9), A O’Hare for Kelly (inj, 48), P Lucey for Sheehy (60).
: K Doyle; B Myers, P Lyons, E Barry; J Glynn, M Taylor, J Dillon; S Merritt, SO’Callaghan; M Tobin, S McDonnell, P Hennessy; J O’Keeffe, R Harkin, M Kelleher.
: K Sheehan for Glynn (h/t), S Copps for Myers (inj, 37), E Kelleher for M Kelleher (48), LWalsh for O’Callaghan (51).
: James Regan (Lough Rovers)
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