The recent controversy over extra time
played in the Clon/Nemo game brings to mind a similar incident in which
Dohenys were involved many years ago, in 1965 to be precise. Dohenys
were junior at the time and in that year’ championship they were drawn
against Clanna Gael, a game they won easily.
Making their debut were
Diarmuid Mawe in goal ( a position he occupied until 1990), Derry Farr
at cornerback, Denis O’Leary from Inchigeela at midfield, Donal Crowley
in one cornerforward position and Donal ‘Bars’ Hurley, who scored 2-1,
in the other corner. Dohenys’ opponents in the semi-final were Bandon,
a game played in Clonakilty with Tim Downey in charge of the whistle.
Teenager, Ben Shorten, whose death occurred the following year , made
his debut at corner forward.
Although the Lilywhites, who had already defeated Bantry and
Skibbereen, were favourites it was Dohenys who dominated the game from
the beginning. With the wind to their backs they led by 0-11 to 0-2 at
halftime. Well into the second half Dohenys were still in control but
two goals from Bandon in the closing stages made for a grandstand
finish with tension mounting as the sixty minute mark passed and the
ref still played on. In those days a game lasted for 60 minutes
irrespective of the amount of time lost. Dohenys, who thought that the
game was over, took their foot off the pedal and found it difficult to
get going again as Bandon came looking for scores to close the gap. As
the minutes ticked by the Doheny fans were getting more and more
frustrated and were making their feelings known in no uncertain terms.
And still the ref played on. Five, six, seven, eight minutes until
finally in the 9th minute one of his officials brought the
matter to the notice of the referee who finally brought the game to a
close with Dohenys leading by 0-16 to 2-5.
God only knows what would have happened if the game had been lost in extra time.
And the simple explanation for what had happened, — the referee’s
watch had stopped! A reasonable and understandable explanation.No
stopwatches or mobile phones to keep a check on the time in those days.
Dohenys chief scorer was Eamonn Young at 45 years of age who
scored 11 points from the cornerforward position. For the record the
following was the team that did duty;
Diarmuid Mawe, Michael Farr, Harry Mc Cullagh, Leo Young, Derry
Farr, John Young, Denis Lyons, John Crowley, Johnny Carroll, Raymond
Lyons, Edda Young, Denis O’Leary, Ben Shorten, Donal Crowley Eamonn
Young.
Dohenys went on to defeat Newcestown in the West Cork final,
overcame Kilshannig and Kinsale in the county before being defeate by
Na Piarsaig in the County final in Macroom in atrocious conditions.
Perhaps a story for another day.