Douglas Win Martin O’Sullivan Cup

There was a big shock at Musgrave Park as Douglas prevented Ballincollig from doing a Munster Junior Division Three League and Cup double as a superb second half display saw the trophy head to the "Tinny Shed" for the next twelve months.

Douglas 16, Ballincollig 12.
There was a hectic finish to this game as Ballincollig pounded the Douglas line in the final minutes to snatch a victory but, Douglas’s commitment and tenacious tackling saw them hold out for a deserved victory.

It was Ballincollig playing with the aid of a strong wind opened the scoring in the fifth minute when a quick counter attack involving scrum half Padraig Flynn and full back David Lucey sent winger Andy Coughlan racing up the wing and he outpaced the Douglas defence to score in the corner, but Kevin Doyle failed with the side line conversion attempt.

Two minutes later Douglas opened their account when Eoin Philpott kicked a penalty with a thirty five meter penalty into the wind.

Philpott was off target with another long range penalty effort minutes later but it was Ballincollig who began to dominate the exchanges especially in the scrums, while Denis Casey was winning plenty of line out ball for the Tanner Park side.

Missed tackles by Douglas was also allowing Ballincollig to get the upper hand. Doyle missed a simple penalty on the Twenty Two to extend his side’s lead.

Four minutes into injury time Ballincollig struck with their second try. It started on the halfway line with Doyle and Flynn linking up to send Lucey on a forty meter run to score under the posts and Doyle converted for a 12-3 half time lead.

Douglas started the second half the better side and Philpott reduced the deficit with a penalty on forty eight minutes.

While Douglas were enjoying plenty of possession, their handling of the greasy ball left them down on several occasions.

With the game entering the final quarter Ronan Barry of Douglas was shown a yellow card but Ballincollig failed to capiltalise on the extra man.

If anything Douglas upped the ante and they were rewarded in the sixty fifth minute when a chip ahead by Paul Byrne saw him gather the ball to touchdown for a try and Philpott’s conversion saw Douglas take the lead 13-12.

This gave Douglas the lift they needed and when man of the match Eoin Philpott landed a drop goal from the half way line with seven minutes remaining, nothing Ballincollig could do in final minutes was going to deny Douglas victory.

Douglas: P Byrne; R O’Donovan, R O’Connell, N O’Connell, A Drumm, B Hynes; E Philpott, D Murphy; L Hynes, G Murray, D Kelleher; S Neville, D Challoner; R O’Donovan, A Walsh, D McCarthy.
Replacements: A Moyles. G Purtil, M Meehan, A O’Flynn, R Barry.

Ballincollig: D Lucey; R Foulkes, D Power, B O’Mahony, A Coughlan; K Doyle, P Flynn; D Gleeson, I O’Malley, C Barrett; D Casey, R Mulcahy; K Lynch, F Olivier, S Kavanagh.
Replacements: F Considine, J White, W Schubert, R Dineen, M Schubert.

Referee: C Harrington (MAR).