BY SEÁN HOLLAND
WHEN it rains, it pours. O'Donovan Rossa have had little luck with injuries this year, losing star man Donal Óg Hodnett earlier in the season, and now they’ve been dealt another blow – captain Paudie Crowley will miss their must-win McCarthy Insurance Senior A FC tie with Dohenys.
Crowley, an influential leader for his side, suffered a knee injury in their heavy round two defeat (3-16 to 0-8) to Kanturk and has been ruled out of their crunch clash this Sunday in Rossmore (2pm). Despite this setback, Skibb manager Gene O'Donovan remains defiant, embracing the underdog mentality ahead of a game his side needs to win to reach the quarter-finals. Both Skibb and Dohenys have two points each, but Dohenys have a far better scoring difference. Bottom line: Skibb must win.
‘We haven’t had much luck, but we’ll be ready. We’re going into this game with nothing to lose,’ O'Donovan said. This all-West Cork showdown is expected to be a tight contest, with a history of close encounters between the two sides. In 2021 it was the Dunmanway men that won, 0-17 to 0-11, with O’Donovan Rossa turning the tables a year later winning 0-13 to 0-8. ‘Dohenys and Rossas will always be a close one, there's nothing between us,’ O’Donovan said.
Having pushed table-toppers Kanturk close in their opening game, compared to Rossas’ heavy loss to the same team, last season’s beaten finalists Dohenys will go into this game as favourites. ‘We don’t wear the favourite tag too well, but then again I think Dohenys can cope with the pressure. Look, they’re a good side. They came up against a very strong Newcestown team last year in the final, said O'Donovan, who is particularly wary of Dohenys’ star-studded inside forward line. ‘Keith White is on fire, he’s a lethal weapon and if you take your eye off him for a second, you’re in trouble. The same with Fionn (Herlihy), and Bucks (Mark Buckley) is back now as well. It’s a lethal forward line if they can put it together so we have to be very conscious of that,' the Skibb boss remarked.
However, O'Donovan is confident his own forwards can rise to the occasion, despite their struggles in the recent defeat to Kanturk. The Skibb men only scored 0-8, with just one coming from open play. ‘It didn’t show against Kanturk, but we’ve got some good forwards. One or two of them have to step up from where they were recently. They know that, and they’ve spoken about it themselves. They’re very honest. Against Kanturk, it was one of those days at the office, which we have put behind us,’ said the Skibb boss.
O'Donovan remains focused on keeping things simple on Sunday and giving his players the freedom to play their game. ‘It’s play-by-play on Sunday. You can't overcomplicate things,’ he explained. ‘A lot of these lads have been playing this style of football for a long time. You have to give them that freedom as well. It's a thing we'd like to see. We’ve encouraged it since we went in. Myself and Dan (Cronin) said on day one we don’t want to be relying on one or two scorers.
‘Last year alone, our average scoring rate was eight players per game. We don’t want to be relying on the likes of Kevin (Davis) to carry us anymore. The potential is there to create a score from everywhere if we want to. The confidence needs to be there for that as well. We played a challenge match there lately and we had seven scorers that night.
‘Even though the old-fashioned thinking in the club would be to find your scorers, we need everyone to be on their game to win.’
