Valley Rovers hurlers land another U16 county after an impressive display 

Valley Rovers 1-15 Douglas 1-10

AFTER a top-class game Valley Rovers retained their U16 Premier 2 hurling title at Ballinhassig on Saturday.

Overall they were the deserving winners, with a good start helping them to their win. Playing with the wind they raced into a 1-6 to 0-1 lead after 16 minutes and from here it was always going to be a struggle for Douglas.

Valleys had some outstanding performances from the likes of Adam Casey, Sean Kiely and Jonathan O'Leary, but their half-back line was key to their win.

They cleared ball after ball with all three, James O'Sullivan, Cian Johnson and Brian Lordan, on top of their game.

For Douglas Fionnan Barry, Dan Crawley, Chris O'Keeffe and Robert Hanley were the pick of their side and they certainly can't be faulted for their efforts.

Dave Carthew opened the scoring for Valleys, with Casey adding a second before Douglas were unlucky not to goal with Barry's effort going just wide.

With seven minutes gone Carthew set up Casey for their goal, to make it 1-2 to no score as Valleys were dominating.

Hanley pointed for Douglas but points from Kiely, McEntee, Carthew and Casey made it 1-6 to 0-1 to Valleys.

Douglas then enjoyed a good spell with two from Barry, followed by one from Hanley reducing the deficit.

But the champions responded with scores from Casey, Hennessy and McEntee. Barry got the last two points of the half for Douglas as Valleys led 1-9 to 0-6 at half-time.

Barry pulled a point back at the start of the second-half with Hennessy and O'Shea keeping the scoreboard ticking over for Valleys. But with 41 minutes gone Douglas were back in contention when Sanjay Sahani set up Hanley to goal to put four between them, 1-11 to 1-7.

O'Leary scored from a free for Valleys with Barry and Hanley on target at the other end to make it a three it a three-point game.

O'Leary and Barry exchanged points and with five minutes to go Valleys led 1-13 to 1-10.

Late points from O'Leary and Jason Kelleher rounded off the scoring as Valleys made it two U16 titles in a row.

Scorers for Valley Rovers: A Casey 1-3 (0-2 f), J O'Leary 0-3 f, D Carthew, S McEntee, E Hennessy 0-2 each, S Kiely, E O'Shea, J Kelleher 0-1 each.

Douglas: F Barry 0-7 (6 f), R Hanley 1-2, P O'Sullivan 0-1.

VALLEY ROVERS: A White; M Woods, C O'Sullivan, R O'Donovan; J O'Sullivan, C Johnson, B Lordan; E Guinane, J O'Leary; A Casey, E Hennessy, E O'Shea; S Kiely, D Carthew, S McEntee.

Subs: C Desmond for A Casey (25), J Kelleher for S McEntee.

DOUGLAS: D Cawley; J O'Connor, J Burke, C Kilbride; C Gowan, C O'Keeffe, E O'Sullivan; S O'Leary, G O'Shea; P O'Sullivan, E Corby, E Collins; F Barry, R Hanley, S Allman Walsh.

Subs: J O'Callaghan Maher for J O'Connor, S Sahani for S Allman Walsh, N Sheehan for E Collins, A Sinnathambi for E O'Sullivan.

Referee: Shane Scanlon, Newcestown.