Under-12 Footballers advance to County Final
Carrigaline 2-3 Douglas 0-6
On Saturday last our under-12 footballers travelled to Ballincollig to take on neighbours Douglas in the County A Football semi-final. On a breezy, showery afternoon both teams served up an enthralling and gripping game of football, at the end of which Carrig held on for a famous victory and so advanced to a County Final showdown with Charleville at Mallow on Saturday next.
From early in the game it was clear that both teams were evenly-matched as they probed for openings in the early exchanges. Twice in the first ten minutes the Douglas forwards got through for goal-scoring chances but on each occasion Graham Bowdren made a superb save. Douglas pointed in the tenth minute but this was immediately cancelled out by a Caleb O’Connell point. Two pointed frees had Douglas two clear by the twentieth minute before Barry Ryan had Carrig’s second minor after being set up by Kieran Dwane. Douglas added two more points before the break to lead 0-5 to 0-2 at half-time.
Three minutes into the second half Carrig were back on terms when a Barry Ryan free deceived the Douglas defence and nestled in the corner of the net. Two minutes later Carrig hit the front when super-sub Elijah Kadi-Harrington lofted over a great point. Douglas fought back and tied up the scores once again at 1-3 to 0-6. Amazingly, there was to be only one more score in the remaining twenty-five minutes and tha came in the sixteenth minute when Caleb O’Connell latched onto a rebound from the Douglas crossbar to slot home Carrig’s second goal.
In the remaining time Douglas threw everything at Carrig but some heroic defence by the Carrig team kept them at bay to trigger scenes of joy for Carrig and devastation for Douglas at the final whistle.