Douglas see off Charleville Under 21
Mark O’Connor in the 22nd and 24th minutes opened up a 2-5 to 1-5 lead.
Darragh Fitzgibbon kept Charleville in touch with a great free from out near the sideline. From the puckout by Douglas keeper Andrew Cullinane to Mark O’Connor who combined with Eoghan O’Brien to set up Shane Kingston for a point.
Mark O’Connor followed with a point from play soon after to open up a four point game. Charleville battled back well before the interval. Darragh Fitzgibbon was unlucky not to goal when his effort went narrowly over the crossbar for a point. Fitzgibbon added a point from a free in stoppage time that left just two points between the teams at the shortwhistle when trailing by 2-7 to 1-8.
On the changeover Darragh Fitzgibbon with a long range free looked like setting up an interesting half when the lead was down to the minimum. Charleville remained firmly in the hunt for the remainder of the third quarter but up front they depended too much on Fitzgibbon for scores to stay in contention.
As the half went Douglas improved greatly. Mark O’Connor dominated at mid field while their half back line trio of Cathal Sheahan, Donnacha Murphy and Ross Howell set up attack after attack for their forwards who all featured very strongly in this half.
Shane Kingston and Mark Dolan had a point apiece before four points on the trot by the outstanding Mark O’Connor moved the winners into a 2-13 to 1-9 lead by the 42nd minute.
At this stage the game appeared to be slipping from Charleville’s reach. Darragh Fitzgibbon had a close in free saved off the line at the expense of a ‘65’ that Fitzgibbon subsequently pointed.
In the meantime it was all Douglas with Brian Turnbull (2) Mark Dolan and Sean Powter along with second half substitute Aaron Ward also chipping in with two points that moved them into a 2-19 to 1-10 lead by the 52nd minute.
There was no denying Douglas the manner of their victory from here with Aaron Ward (2) and Conor Kingston having points before the end. Charleville to their credit battled to the end.
In the last eight minutes Darragh Fitzgibbon (3) Jack Barry and Cian Collins had points with Collins completing the scoring in injury time when he had his sides second goal with the last puck of the game.