Valley Rovers hit the peaks when it mattered most
Valley Rovers' Rory O'Sullivan and Carrigaline's David Drake battle for possession during the Cork Premier SFC R3 tie h in Ballinhassig.
JOB done by Valley Rovers in this Cork Premier SFC third-round contest in Ballinhassig on Sunday.
In truth they were always in control against a Carrigaline side who tried manfully but could never make an impression on the scoreboard despite having many opportunities to do so.
Valley knew they were in a tight group with scores of paramount importance and while they didn’t need them in the final analysis - with champions Nemo beaten by Douglas - a 5-12 tally was smart scoring and should set them up nicely for their quarter-final with Castlehaven.
Valley Rovers' boss Paul Holland was a happy man afterwards.
“We were very disappointed at losing to Douglas, we just didn’t get it together unlike the first day against Nemo. Today it was a pressure game. We could have lost focus but we didn’t and I'm happy with that. Once we got in front we began to take our chances which we didn’t against Douglas. We just concentrated on winning the game, that was our focus. I’m happy with the performance and work rate. Nine championship games for some of our players in nine weeks is crippling. The idea is great but it’s crippling for players who want to play two grades. Professional soccer players hardly do that much. Eight of our starters played hurling last week. The system really has to be looked at especially for dual clubs.
“It’s hurling now against Kilworth next week (in a Premier championship quarter-final), then back to football again. Look, If you get a starting jersey in our team you use it, we have a big bench all ready to come on. They made a big impact today.” One man who certainly made an impression was substitute Eoin O’Reilly who fired in a hat-trick of goals and a couple of points to sweeten the pot. His introduction in the 17th minute was a big plus for the Innishannon outfit who only led 0-3 to 0-0 after the first water break thanks to points from Eoghan Delaney, Eanna Desmond and Fiachra Lynch with Carrigaline keeper Seán Mellett making a wonderful double save to deny the excellent Billy Crowley and Ciaran McCarthy a goal in the eighth minute.
Carrigaline had their chances, Eanna Desmond, twice, David Drake and Killian McInerney off target but they were very much in the contest.
O’Reilly made a quick impression with a 20th minute Valley's point and with Sean Kiely and Kevin Canty on top of their games it was 0-6 to 0-0 after 24 minutes before Carrigaline wing back Luke Boyle finally got his wasteful side on the board.
Kevin O’ Reilly followed with a second point but just on the half time whistle O’ Reilly struck for his opening goal after fine work by Adam Walsh Barry and Fiachra Lynch and the scoreline at half time was looking healthier at 1-6 to 0-2 with Valley still having a lot of work to do to ensure progression.
In the space of five second-half minutes Valley Rovers has the game sewn up with O’Reilly netting again in the 31st minute and this was followed by a third from wing back Kiely after Crowley’s shot came back off the upright.
A brief response from Carrigaline followed with nice points from Drake and Desmond but then came a cracking fourth goal from the winners: Lynch, Walsh Murphy and O’Leary combining to set up O’Reilly for his hat-trick in the 39th minute and Carrigaline were dead in the water.
Valleys really went for the jugular now, totally in control, and although Jack McCarthy did point two frees for Carrigaline the Innishannon men were so comfortable leading 4-9 to 0-6 after the second water break.
A fifth goal came in the 49th minute from Eoghan Delaney after O'Reilly had scored another fine point and it was just a case of seeing out the match now with the news from the city that Douglas had beaten Nemo.
It got worse for Carrigaline though with centre back Stephen Dwane getting a second yellow with time almost up and they face a huge test now to preserve their premier status with a relegation play-off game against Ilen Rovers looming large.
E. O’Reilly 3-2, E. Delaney 1-1, J. Kiely 1-0, B. Crowley 0-3 (0-1 free), F. Lynch and R. O’Sullivan 0-2 each, J. Cottrell and C. O’Leary 0-1 each.
J. McCarthy (0-2 frees), K. O’Reilly and E. Desmond 0-2 each, L. Boyle and D. Drake 0-1 each.
C. Desmond; A. Walsh Barry, T. O’Brien, D. Lynch; J. Kiely, W. Hurley, G. Farrell; D. Murphy, K. Canty; R. O’Sullivan, F. Lynch, C. O’Leary; E. Delaney, B. Crowley, C. McCarthy.
E. O’ Reilly for C. McCarthy (16m), J. Walsh for Farrell (48m), J. Cottrell for O’Sullivan (49m), C. McCarthy for Delaney (55m), C. O’Keeffe for Farrell (60m).
S. Mellett; N. Quirky, I. Sheeran, P. Ronayne; L. Boyle, S. Deane, Kieran Kavanagh; Kevin Kavanagh, J. McCarthy; J. Kelly, K. McIntyre, K. O’Reilly; D. Drake, D. Green, E. Desmond.
C. Murphy for Kelly (34m), E. Rule for McIntyre (43m), K. Dwane foe Kieran Kavanagh (48m), R. Kenneally for Boyle (49m), D. King for Ronayne (60m).
Alan O’Connor (Ballygarvan).
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