O'Shea Hits 14 as Ballinhassig Overcome Valley Rovers

Ballinhassig 0-22Valley Rovers 1-14

JJ Hurley

Eoghan O'Shea who hit fourteen points for Ballinhassig in their win over Valley Rovers on Thirsday night.

Eoghan O’Shea hit 14 points as 14-man Ballinhassig proved too strong for Valley Rovers in the South East Junior A Hurling League semi-final at Brinny on Thursday night.

The neighbours served up a contest with all the ingredients of a local derby, keeping the large attendance engrossed throughout.

O’Shea was the standout performer for the Blues, registering 12 of his 14 points in the second half as the former Cork minor underlined his potential.

From the throw-in, both sides showed their intent as Eoin Gagley and Simon O’Neill traded early scores.

A flurry of scores left the sides level after ten minutes, with O’Shea registering his first two points of the evening.

While both teams were guilty of some wayward shooting, they remained deadlocked on 18 minutes when Gagley levelled matters.

Valleys gained the advantage minutes later when Eoin Madden received a red card after collecting two yellow cards.

From there to the interval, the home side added three scores, including two from their ace marksman Gagley, to take a 0-8 to 0-5 lead into the break.

Valleys continued to hold the upper hand early in the second half as Gagley maintained his accuracy in front of goal. However, Ballinhassig took control of the contest by hitting eight unanswered scores.

A score from Cottrell halted the run before two O’Shea points extended Ballinhassig’s lead to 0-16 to 0-11 on 49 minutes.

Gagley struck a close-range free on 52 minutes, but an excellent save from Aaron O’Leary limited the damage to a single point.

With the scoreboard reading 0-19 to 0-13 on 55 minutes, Sean McEntee struck a well-taken goal to throw Valleys a lifeline.

Ballinhassig responded strongly and almost found a goal of their own when Diarmuid O’Sullivan forced an excellent save from Joe Lynch.

From there to the finish, Ballinhassig outscored their opponents by three points to one, with O’Shea registering the final score of the evening.

Ballinhassig now advance to the league final, where old rivals Courcey Rovers await.

Scorers for Ballinhassig: E O’Shea 0-14 (7f), D Deasy, G Sheehan 0-2 each, S O’Neill, D O’Sullivan, S McCarthy, P O’Regan 0-1 each.

Valley Rovers: E Gagley 0-8 (6f), S McEntee 1-1, J Cottrell 0-3, T O’Brien, S O’Regan 0-1 each.

BALLINHASSIG: A O'Leary; J O'Callaghan, M Desmond, J Lyham; D Deasy, M Sheehan, P O'Regan; E Finn, J Lombard; G Sheehan, R Lombard, S O'Neill; E Madden, D O'Donovan, E O'Shea. Subs: D O’Sullivan and Sean McCarthy for J Lombard and Simon O’Neill (HT), T Madden for G Sheehan (37), D Dulea for M Sheehan (55).

VALLEY ROVERS: J Lynch; D Brady, E Delaney, J O'Sullivan; S O'Regan, T O'Brien, D Kane; D O'Connor, E O'Reilly; A Slattery, J Cotter, E Gagley; S McEntee, M Croke, R Sweetnam. Subs: T Tahaney for S O’Regan (37), C Kilduff for D Kane (55).

Referee: Stephen Murphy