Ballinhassig 1-03 Valley Rovers 1-09
JJ Hurley
Valley Rovers powered past Ballinhasssig in the SE Junior A Football League on Sunday morning in Ballinhassig.
In truth, Valleys should have been well out of sight as they hit seven wides in the opening 30 minutes, and Ballinhassig lacked a cutting edge in the same period.
Darragh Keane opened the scoring for the visitors in three minutes with a well-taken point.
Gary Dean added to his side's tally before Ballinhassig's Shane Kearney got his side off the mark.
After ten minutes, Valley's led by two points to one but should have been further ahead only for some wayward shooting.
Darragh Keane, Valley's star man in the opening half, added another point on 12 minutes, as Valley's full-back Charlie O'Sullivan found himself in a forward position, but his goalward shot was blocked.
The relief was short-lived following a free from Ciaran McCarthy found Evan O'Shea, and he made no mistake in front of the Ballinhassig goal on fifteen minutes.
Ciaran McCarthy added another point to leave the score 1-4 to 0-1 before Sean Coleman added Ballinhassig's second point after 26 minutes.
Gary Deane swung over a point on 28 minutes as the visitors led by 1-5 to 0–2 points at half-time.
McCarthy raised the first white flag of the second half as Valleys started where they left off.
Darragh Keane was unlucky not to hit the back of the net, but Arthur O'Leary made a fine save in the Hassig goal.
Minutes later, Keane sent over a point to leave the scores at 1-7 to 0-2 after 40 minutes.
Despite Ballinhassig endeavouring to get into the game, Gary Farrell was pulling the strings at midfield and dominating play.
McCarthy was then on target for two more points, including a beauty following a neat pass from Aaron O'Leary, as the Innishannon outfit stretched their lead to 1-9 to 0-2
Finally, Ballinhassig made some headway as Shane Kearney fired a ball over the bar on 51 minutes, and Eoin Lombard followed up with a goal after 53 minutes.
With the score at 1-9 to 1-3, Valleys remained in control until the final whistle and recorded the victory.
Scorers
Ballinhassig: E Lombard 1-0, S Kearney 0-02, S Coleman 0-01.
Valley Rovers: C McCarthy 0-04,(1f), E O'Shea 1-0. D Keane 0-3, G Deane 0-2,
Teams
BALLINHASSIG: A O'Leary; C Kirby, M Desmond, C Delea, T Madden; C Dulea K Maguire, C Desmond; E Lombard, R Casey; J Griffin, S Kearney, J Grainger; P O' Regan, D Delea, S Coleman.
Subs: S Butler for J Grainger, S Connolly for T Madden, C Finnegan for S Coleman, S Coleman for K Maguire.
VALLEY ROVERS: B Curtain; N Daly, C O'Sullivan, B Lordan, D Keane, C O'Shea, L Casey; G Farrell, M O'Leary; A Casey, J Cronin, G Deane; E O' Shea, C McCarthy, A O Leary.
Subs: C Hoey for A O'Leary, Olan Fehily for A Casey.
Referee Adam Cummins, Ballymartle

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