Davis Dons his boots for Rossas

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

HE donned his boots for his club last Saturday – but former Cork footballer and selector Don Davis has ruled out a comeback with O’Donovan Rossa!

The 46-year-old All-Ireland club winner came on as a late sub for his club in their Paddy Minihane Cup final win against Ilen Rovers in Bantry, with the Rossas caught for numbers.

‘We were short a good few players, we’d only 15 togged out so we were badly stuck,’ Davis laughed.

‘It was nice the way it worked out, I would have known Paddy very well from my years as a Garda in Bantry. I would have had great banter with Paddy over the years, he was one of the real GAA personalities, he would have lived and breathed GAA, so it was nice for me, in respect of his memory, to go and play a few minutes.’

What made this even more special was that Don got to play on the same team as his son Kevin, who kicked 1-4 for Skibb against Ilen.

‘It was nice to get the opportunity to play for Skibbereen again and to play with Kevin. It was completely unplanned,’ Don explained. 

‘I don’t know long it’s since I last played for Skibb, it’s probably ten years ago.

‘I was quite nervous, to be honest, because I don’t have any football played in a good while, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t be too involved in the game either. As it turned out, I was only on for the last few minutes and I had no contact with the ball – that suited me fine!’

Goals from Kevin Davis and Jerry Keohane in the final ten minutes were telling as Skibb wrestled the Paddy Minihane Cup from Ilen, with Skibb having led 0-9 to 1-5 at the break – Sean O’Donovan scoring a first-half goal for Ilen.

Scorers

O’Donovan Rossa: K Davis 1-4 (3f); J Keohane 1-0; E Hodnett 0-3; C McCarthy, T Hegarty 0-2 each; P Crowley, C Crowley, S Crowley, A Tanner, M Collins 0-1 each.

Ilen Rovers: K O’Sullivan 1-4 (3f); S O’Donovan 1-1; D MacEoin 0-2 (1f); C O’Driscoll, D Collins 0-1 each.

O’Donovan Rossa: R Price; J Keohane, A Tanner, J O’Sullivan; M Collins, D Hazel, R Hodnett; S Crowley, P Crowley; E Hodnett, T Hegarty, JP Reen; K Davis, C Crowley, C McCarthy.

Subs used: S Crowley, D Davis.

Ilen Rovers: E Hourihane; K Minihane, S Minihane, A Hassett; D O’Donovan, P Minihane, C O’Driscoll; D Coughlan, D Collins; J Bushe, S O’Donovan, C Harrington; D MacEoin, K O’Sullivan, A Holland.

Subs used: E O’Donoghue, H O’Neill.