Castlehaven and Dohenys to clash in county football final

CASTLEHAVEN and Dohenys will contest the 2021 Cork LGFA Junior A county final following impressive victories last Saturday.

Castlehaven continued their remarkable rise up the ranks by reaching a third consecutive county decider. Junior C and B county titles have preceded a dominant run to this year’s junior A final where Castlehaven will meet Dohenys on Saturday, November 13th in CIT at 12pm.

The Dunmanway club was pushed to the limit by Naomh Abán in last weekend’s JAFC semi-final. Katelyn Sheehan, Laurie Hayes and Noelle O’Mahony all found the net but Dohenys required goalkeeper Nora McCarthy to produce an important stop to prevent Naomh Abán from moving ahead in the closing stages.

Dohenys emerged 3-4 to 0-9 winners thanks to Katelyn Sheehan (1-3), Laurie Hayes and Noelle O’Mahony (1-0 each) and Mairead Crowley (0-1) scores. Manager Tony White is looking forward to the upcoming JAFC county final.

‘Naomh Abán were a very physical team and our semi-final was real championship football. Our goals were hugely important and came at the right times for us,’ White said.

‘Our goals were hugely important and came at the right times for us. I felt we were harshly outdone of a junior A semi-final last year because of points difference. The girls have worked extremely hard to get back to where we are. We have been in plenty county semi-finals and finals over the last five years so there will be a huge buzz around the club again leading up to this year’s final.’

As for Dohenys’ county final opponents, Castlehaven took advantage of an early Katie Cronin goal to build a 2-5 to 0-2 interval lead over Douglas at Moneyvohallane last weekend.

Siobhan Courtney and Alice O’Driscoll dominated the midfield area which helped Grainne O’Sullivan grab a second Castlehaven goal before the half-time whistle. Difficult weather conditions played their part in a low-scoring second half before Castlehaven ran out 2-6 to 0-4 winners despite kicking a lot of wides. Castlehaven’s scores came from Katie Cronin (1-3), Grainne O’Sullivan (1-0), Mairead O’Driscoll (0-2) and Hannah Sheehy (0-1).

‘A third county final in a row is down to the fact Castlehaven has a talented panel of players,’ Castlehaven manager Dinny Cahalane said.

‘We have had 30 players training together regularly all year. There is a large amount of those players that can feel unlucky anytime they don’t start a game. We have promoted a few of younger players to the senior panel and that has provided us with a big boost as well. They are all good footballers.

‘We are delighted to be in another county final but we have a lot of shooting practice to get in between now and then.’