Douglas got off to a flying start with their captain Stephen Mahon getting an early free kick which he took himself. As the Douglas team ready themselves, Stephen takes a sneaky shot which curls around the wall and goes left of the post. Stephen continued to make his presence felt in midfield along side Sean Moynihan who control the central midfield area. Chris Fahy supplied plenty of ball to Dean Kelly who used his blistering pace to frustrate the Buncrana defence. Buncrana cause no real threat thanks to the powerful headers by John Forrest,Robert Creagh, Jason Murphy and Mick Lyons. Stephen Mahon rounded his man and gave a lovely through ball to Eoin Murphy who was taken out in the box. Stephen stepped up to finish what he had started and buried the ball in the back of the net! The Douglas team calmly went back to their half of the pitch without celebrating; showing their concentration and determination.

The BunCrana attackers started strongly knowing what is at risk, but with Eoin Murphy and Chris Fahy on the wings doing most of the running on the pitch, they found it hard to regain possession. Edward Finn calmly controlled whatever the Buncrana team hit at him. The overwhelmingly strong Douglas mid field proved too much for their opposition and supplied many quality balls to Dean Kelly and Stephen MacCarthy up front. Stephen Mahon gained possession in mid field and rounded two men before sliding the ball past the helpless keeper. 2-0! Dean continued to show his skill with his stepovers putting the defence in two minds! Steven MacCarthy was very unfortunate to be called offside when he used his pace to break away from his man.

Congratulations to the whole team for their success and we wish them the very best in the future. Subs- Andrew Neville for Jason Murphy, Jamie Kelleher for Chris Fahy, Jamie Cullen for Eoin Murphy. Sean Moynihan received the man of the match for his defence throughout the match.

Douglas Community School
Winners of the All Ireland Schools Chess Tournament.

The All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country championships were held recentley in
DCU, with Irelands best distance runners seeking team medals and places on
the Irish team for the schools international cross-country. The school had
three teams competing Junior, Inter and Senior. The course proved a testing
one with large sections of mud, a hilly loop and strong winds.

The Junior
team were led home by the superb Peter Hanrahan and others to impress were
Cullen Lynch, Ian Tobin and Shaun Healy. The Inter boys team had been
unlucky in the run up to the championships with illnesses taking its toll on
the team. Richard Quirke had a great run in 36th position after losing a
spike after 300m. Mark Tobin, Adam Kelleher and David O’ Keeffe also had
great runs.

The senior race tunred out to be a cracker with a head to head
battle between Craig Murphy and John Coghlan (son of the legendary Eamonn
Coghlan). Craig battled hard throughout but unfortunately he couldn’t match
Coghlans final sprint. He finished in a fantastic 2nd place and has the
added bonus of being able to compete in this age group again next year. He
can now look forward to a well-earned break.

Douglas CS and St Malachys
Belfast were the only two schools in the country to have three teams
qualified to compete at the championships, a great achievement by all
involved.

Soccer in Douglas Community School has never been so strong. Our illustrious past pupil Colin Doyle is doing exceptionally well with Birmingham City in the Coca Cola Championship. Our under fourteen team has qualified for the Munster final. Our under sixteen team has qualified for the All Ireland final! The under sixteen team expect to be playing a team from either Letterkenny or Galway city. The under fourteen team is playing Colaiste Spiorad Naomh from Bishopstown in the Final in Turners Cross on Wednesday at 1.30 pm.

Munster U14 Soccer Semi Final.

On the 19th of April the under fourteen soccer team took on Limerick C.B.S in the Munster Semi final in Limerick. Luke O Sullivan set the pace by running at the vulnerable C.B.S defence. His speed needed a well timed tackle to put the ball out for a corner. The ball was crossed in towards Shaun Healy who heads the ball towards C.B.S goal to be denied by the keeper who touches the ball over. Josh Kra gave a lovely through ball to Andy O Connell who was marginally offside. When everything seemed to be going Douglas’s way, C.B.S got a strike at the edge of the box that went marginally goes wide. Shaun Healy made a brilliant clearance of the line mid way through the half. A Limerick striker hits it from way out and the ball takes a dangerous bounce but is recovered by Cian Hammond. The ref blows the whistle for half time.

As the ref started the second half, C.B.S get off to a great start having one on one with Michael Forrest who prevented a definite goal. Eoghan Cremin breaks up the left wing, running half the length of the pitch and played it to Luke who gave a small flick on the ball so it breaks to Andy O Connell who put the ball home in the top left corner. Graham Cullinan, Eoin Cremin continued to supply the ball to Andy and Darren who applied the pressure on the C.B.S defence. Andrew Lehane is very solid in the defence and stops many of the crosses and starts more attacks up the wing, it was because of this that he deservingly got the man of the match award. Subs-Rob Lehane for Luke O Sullivan, Jack Wilkinson for Michael Forrest and Darren O Sullivan.

All Ireland Under 16 Semi Final

Douglas Community School Cork 3
Colaiste Phadraig Lucan 3 (AET) (Douglas win 7-6 on pens)

Douglas Community School have reached the final of the Cornmarket Irish junior Boys cup after a thrilling semi final at Hibernian’s FC in Waterford, where they defeated Colaiste Phadraig Lucan in a penalty shootout.

Both sides served up a feast of football with Lucan coming from two goals down to force extra time and taking the lead before Douglas secured an equalizer and penalties.

It was the Cork side that dominated the opening half and they got the perfect start when John Forrest made the most of hesitation from the Lucan defense at a corner and he headed home from close range inside the third minute., the Cork side went two up after 18 minutes when Eoin Murphy slipped a free kick short to Stephen Mahon and he fired through a host of players to the bottom corner. Lucan should have pulled a goal back on the stroke of half time when Abiola Sarrusi made a sweeping run down the left and his excellent cross was met by Ian Scott but his header just flew right of the upright.

The second period was in complete contrast to the first as the Dubliners upped their game and they were rewarded with two goals in three minutes. Eddie Fagan broke behind the Cork back line and he lifted the ball beyond the advancing Edward Finn for their first and Finn could only watch as Rory Kelly fired a magnificent effort to the top corner from 20 yards, just three minutes later.

Colaiste Phadraig seemed to get stronger as the game moved into extra time and they deservedly went in front three minutes into extra time when Fagan got on the end of another long ball over the top and fired past Finn from the top of the penalty area. However the Munster champions refused the give in and they were back on level terms when Jamie Cullen met a corner at the back post and headed home.

The penalty shootout required twenty penalties before the sides were separated – finishing three all after the first five and when Michael Lyons scored his side’s seventh penalty it was left to Ronan Connell to keep Lucan’s chances alive but he could only watch in agony as Finn touched his effort onto the post and the ball spun across the line and away to safety.

Douglas Community School 4

Douglas retained their Munster title in this age group in a very entertaining game. Douglas started off slowly and as the game progressed they began to get a grip on the game. Ten minutes before the break Eoin”Pots” Murphy scored the opening goal with a well taken header at the far post from a Dean Kelly cross. This was the only goal of the first half. Douglas began the 2nd half like they ended the 1st. Douglas looked confident in their play and they got their 2 nd goal from a well taken Philip Mahon effort. Douglas secured their title 5 minutes later with a crafty goal by Philip Mahon.

Douglas made it 4-0 in the last 5 minutes when Steve McCarthy capped off a brilliant performance with a nice finish. They play the Leinster winners in the All Ireland semi-final.

Philip Mahon lifted the cup at the end for Douglas.