Rovers take Carrigdhoun Title

Valley Rovers 0-2-14     Ballinhassig 1-9

( JJ Hurley)

Valley Rovers were crowned South East Junior A Football League Champions as they drew a second half blank to Ballinhassig in Belgooly on Sunday.

It may be something of a cliché but this was a game of two halves, dominated by Valley Rovers for the first thirty minutes but Ballinhassig held the whip-hand in the second half.

With a strong breeze at their backs and playing into the scoring goal in Belgooly, the Innishannon outfit raced into an early six points to one lead after ten minutes, following points from Adam Casey, Sean McEntee, Darragh O’Shea, Stephen Fay and a two pointer from the boot of Gary Deane.

Following a good passing move between Ciaran Kirby and Tom Madden, Ballinhassig added to Diarmuid O’ Sullivan’s opening score.

Making full use of the breeze, Valley’s ace marksman Sean McEntee fired over three unanswered points , before Gavin Harrington replied with a beauty up the other end.

With the scoreboard reading 0-9 to 0-3 on 16 minutes, McEntee stretched his side’s lead, with a free (2pt), before O’Sullivan cancelled the advantage as he kicked over a point.

From there to the interval, Valleys added three more points, two from man of the match O’Shea and one from McEntee, as Ballinhassig’s playmaker Diarmuid O’Sullivan had the final say of the half, leaving the score at 0-14 to 0-5.

The early minutes of the second half suggested the pendulum had swung in favour of the Ballinhassig outfit as Tom Madden rifled a shot to the Valley’s net.

With the wind at their backs, the Blues had their tails up as O’ Sullivan add another two points as the deficit was reduced from 0-14 to 1-7 on 41 minutes.

A grand stand finish looked like in the offing but after Kevin Maguire hit a point two- minutes later as only a goal separated the sides.

 However,Ballinhassig were unable to close the gap mainly due to a resilient Innishannon outfit well marshalled by Callum Reardon, but Valley's nerves were certainly tested as they drew a blank in the second half.

O’ Sullivan narrowed the gap to two points deep into injury time, but it wasn’t enough to stop Valley’s claiming the title.

Scorers for Valley Rovers: S McEntee 0-7 (1F 1 2pt), D O’ Shea, 0-3 G Deane 1 2pt, A Casey, S Fay, (0-1 each).

Ballinhassig: D O’Sullivan 0-6 (4f), T Madden 1-1, G Harrington, K Maguire (0-1 each)

Valley Rovers: T Sweetnam; D Hoey, T McGrath, B Lordan; D Keane, C Johnson, C Reardon; N Lawton, D O’Shea; S Ryan, J Cronin, G Deane; S McEntee, S Fay, A Casey. Sub C O’ Shea for B Lordan (39), A O’Leary for S McEntee (41).

Ballinhassig: J O’Rourke; J Grainger, E Lombard, D Lombard; P O’Leary, C Desmond, L Kirby; E Lucey, C Kirby; S O’Neill, G Daly, S Lombard; T Madden, D O’Sullivan, G Harrington. Subs B Lucey for E Lucey (HT), C Dulea for G Harrington (50), S Butler for T Madden (54)

Referee Alan O’ Connor, Ballygarvan

Valley Rovers Junior A Football League Champions for 2025