Premier SFC: Valley Rovers hammer Carrigaline to power into quarter-final

Valley Rovers 5-12 Carrigaline 0-8

VALLEY ROVERS have cruised through to the knock-out stages of the Bon Secours PSFC as they demolished Carrigaline 5-12 to 0-8 in Ballinhassig on Sunday afternoon.

Forward Eoin O’Reilly started the game on the bench, but his introduction just 16 minutes into the first half swung the contest in his side’s favour as his hat-trick of goals, followed by two points — all from play — ensured that Valley won by 19 points to send them through to the next stage of the competition while Carrigaline are now set for a relegation battle.

Valley Rovers manager Paul Holland named eight players in his starting 15 and three more on the bench that also featured for the club’s hurlers in their win against Watergrasshill the weekend previous, which also secured their progression to the knockout stages.

They showed some early signs of weariness here as they hit a number of poor wides — as did their opponents, to be fair — which failed to give them the commanding lead they deserved by the first water break.

By that juncture, they were just ahead by 0-3 to no score with the points coming from Eoghan Delaney, Billy Crowley, and Fiachra Lynch.

They continued to dominate proceedings in the second quarter and by the 24th minute, they were 0-6 to no score in front with Crowley adding a second point to his tally after O’Reilly grabbed his first since being introduced from the bench and Rory O’Sullivan also got his name on the scoresheet.

Carrigaline eventually showed some signs of life as they finally got on the scoreboard when right half-back Luke Boyle roamed forward and fired over the black spot in the 25th minute before left half-forward Kevin O’Reilly sent over an excellent shot from long range shortly before the half-time break to make it 0-6 to 0-2.

But Valleys soon rallied and they blew their opponents away with three quickfire goals either side of the interval to ensure they did everything they could to secure their place in the next stage of the tournament.

A lovely, incisive move involving Adam Walsh-Murphy and Lynch allowed Eoin O’Reilly to slot the ball into the back of the net moments before the referee ended the first period.

Rovers took that momentum into the second period and Eoin O’Reilly raised another green flag shortly after the restart when he tucked home Delaney’s layoff.

And Valleys got their third goal of the afternoon in the 35th minute although this time there was a hint of good fortune involved as Billy Crowley’s initial shot for a point came back off the post and Johnny Kiely was alert to the rebound to coolly plant it past the keeper, 3-6 to 0-2.

Carrigaline deserve credit for battling until the end, but they could only manage to score six more points in the remainder of the game with Eanna Desmond and Kevin O’Reilly claiming two each from play overall.

But their rivals were too strong and Eoin O’Reilly completed his treble of goals with a clever punch following another great move before Delaney got in on the act late on to seal an impressive victory for Valley Rovers.

Scorers for Valley Rovers: E O’Reilly 3-2, E Delaney 1-1, J Kiely 1-0, B Crowley 0-3 (0-1 f), R O’Sullivan, F Lynch 0-2 each, C O’Leary, J Cottrell 0-1 each.

Carrigaline: E Desmond, K O’Reilly 0-2 each, J McCarthy 0-2 f, L Boyle, D Drake 0-1 each.

VALLEY ROVERS: C Desmond; A Walsh Murphy, T O’Brien, D Lynch; J Kiely, W Hurley, G Farrell; D Murphy, K Canty; R O’Sullivan, F Lynch, C O’Leary; E Delaney, B Crowley, C McCarthy.

Subs: E O’Reilly for C McCarthy (16), J Walsh for G Farrell (48), J Cottrell for R O’Sullivan (48), C McCarthy for E Delaney (53).

CARRIGALINE: S Mellett; N Quirke, I Sheerin, P Ronayne; L Boyle, S Dwane, Kieran Kavanagh; Kevin Kavanagh, J McCarthy; J Kelly, K MacIntyre, K O’Reilly; D Drake, D Greene, E Desmond.

Subs: J Kelly for C Murphy (35), E Ryle for K MacIntyre (44), K Dwane for Kieran Kavanagh (53), R Kenneally for L Boyle (53), D King for P Ronayne (60).

Referee: Alan O’Connor (Ballygarvan).