Carrigaline 3-14

Valley Rovers 3-14

JJ HURLEY REPORTS

CARRIGALINE rescued a dramatic last-minute draw against Valley Rovers in the Procure.ie South East Junior A Football Championship opener in Ballinhassig after surrendering a 3-10 to 0-11 lead after 40 minutes.

Already dubbed the group of death, with Ballinhassig and Ballymartle also involved, Valley Rovers led in added time through a Brian Lordan point before Kieran Kavanagh equalised with the final score of the game.

Despite surrendering a winning position, Carrigaline manager John Roberts remained upbeat afterwards.

'Valley Rovers are always strong in this competition. We got the better of them in the first half, but we knew they were going to come at us in the second half,' he said.

'A bit disappointed with the way they let them back into it, but you can never write off Valleys.'

Ironically, it was Valley Rovers who made the brighter start, with Eoin O'Reilly (2) and Daniel Muckian giving them an early three-point lead.

However, Valleys found themselves in trouble by the seventh minute as Carrigaline raced into a 2-2 to 0-3 lead, with Olin Barry hitting the net twice in the space of 60 seconds.

Outstanding from placed balls, Oisin McCarthy cut the deficit to 2-2 to 0-4 after 15 minutes, before Ben Delaney struck Carrigaline’s third goal three minutes later.

The remainder of the half was evenly contested, with both sides adding four points. Delaney (2), Thomas Foley and Mossy Vaughan were on target for Carrigaline, while McCarthy (2) and Danny O'Sullivan replied for Valleys, leaving the half-time score at 3-6 to 0-8.

An early second-half point from Niall O'Keeffe looked like normal service had resumed before an Oisin McCarthy two-point free seemed to rally the Innishannon side.

A Mossy Vaughan point pushed the lead out to 3-10 to 0-11 before the Valleys onslaught began.

Donnacha O'Connell started the comeback on 42 minutes by rattling the net and, despite a Carrig point, Danny O'Sullivan set up Oisin McCarthy for Valley Rovers' second goal after captain Sam Brown had added a point, with the score at 3-11 to 2-12.

With 51 minutes gone, the margin was back to 3-12 to 2-12 thanks to an Eoghan Landers point.

However, Rovers were not going away as McCarthy cracked over a point before Kevin 'Dart' O'Sullivan rattled the net on 59 minutes.

Delaney tied the contest before the sides traded a score each in added time, Brian Lordan putting Valley Rovers ahead before Kieran Kavanagh equalised with the final score of an enthralling game.

Scorers 

Carrigaline: O Barry 2-0; B Delaney 0-6 (1 2ptf); T Cronin 1-1; M Vaughan 0-3; T Foley, N O’Keeffe, E Landers, K Kavanagh 0-1 each.

Valley Rovers: O McCarthy 1-6 (2ptf, 1 45, 1f); K O’Flynn 1-1; B McCarthy 1-0; E O’Reilly 0-3; D Muckian, D O’Sullivan, Sam Browne, B Lordan 0-1 each.

Carrigaline: C Laverty; Sean Browne, L Aherne, E Murphy; S Turner, K Kavanagh, J Shanahan; N O’Keeffe, T Foley; E Landers, O Barry, M Vaughan; T Cronin, S Horan, B Delaney.

Subs: N O’Keeffe for Foley (32, inj), S Connolly for Ahern (53), D Fitzgerald for Landers (57), J Connolly for Shanahan (59, inj).

Valley Rovers: L Dineen; D Shields, D Muckian, C O’Riordan; D McCarthy, C O’Shea, B Lordan; O McCarthy, Sam Browne; N Lawton, E O’Sullivan, A Healy; K O’Flynn, E O’Reilly, D O’Sullivan.

Subs: D Brady for Healy, B McCarthy for Lawton (both 44), F Lucey for E O’Sullivan (55).

Referee: Alan O’Connor (Ballygarvan).