From Evening Echo 7th July 2010

THE champions go marching on as  White’s Cross  demolished Douglas Hotel in one-sided JAFC at Páirc Dubhsalanaigh last  night, writes JOHN COUGHLAN.

It is hard to believe that White’s  Cross went into this game without  their regular goalkeeper, full-back and  corner-back but in truth it made little  difference.

Coach Finbarr Kiely had to shuffle a few players and credit to his replacement they came out of the game with flying colours.

 “It is an honour to coach a group of players that have commitment beyond belief and this evening is testament to that fact,” Finbarr said.

Douglas looked impressive in their first round win over Mayfield but in truth they lacked the bottle for this game and that gave their opponents a distinct advantage.

There were many heroes for White’s  Cross but the performance of Murt Kelleher at centre field was simply superb. Kelleher covered every blade of grass and battled hard for the hour to inspire his team-mates.

The first half was all about White’s Cross as they blitzed their opponents with an exhibition of football. After Eoin Murnane opened their scoring in the fifth minute with a clinical point, Paul O’Sullivan soloed through to place the ball wide of their keeper two minutes later.

Douglas eventually registered their first point from a Conor O’Donnell free in the 16th minute and their  other score of the half came from another free 11 minutes later.

White’s Cross continued to play champagne football and when the energetic Sean Keane drilled a classy goal past the helpless keeper in the 25th minute, Douglas looked all at sea.

Trailing 2-7 to 0-2 at the interval, Douglas needed a good start but they failed to match the power of their opponents and all they could muster up was four points for the entire half.

White’s Cross were seldom threatened and it was fitting that O’Sullivan would add a cracking second goal in the 28th minute to guarantee their quarter.-final berth.

Team. Stuart Kiely, Donncha Murnane , James Cooney, Brian Murphy, , Donal Kelly, Eoin Murnane (0-2), Paddy O’Brien, Murt Kelleher (0-1), Denis O’Regan, Kevin Buckley (0-1), Conor Buckley, Edwin Buckley (0-1), Sean Keane (1-02), Ken O’Keeffe (0-2, 0-1 free), Paul O’Sullivan (2-0).

Subs: Dylan Burke for Paul O’Sullivan