Ballinhassig hold off rivals Valley Rovers to lift Division 4 crown
Ballinhassig's Michael Sheehan is tackled by Valley Rovers' Sean McEntee at Riverstick. Picture: Denis Boyle
BALLINHASSIG completed their Red FM Division 4 Hurling League campaign undefeated after a hard-earned win over local rivals Valley Rovers in the final at Riverstick.
This game was in the balance until five minutes from time when Ballinhassig stretched their lead to six points but a goal and a point in added time from the Innishannon side was not enough to prevent the Bowler Murphy Cup heading to Ballinhassig for the next twelve months.
Over the sixty minutes, the Blues looked the more comfortable side, but Valley Rovers battled away to the finish.
The Innishannon side made the better start hitting three unanswered points inside the opening five minutes, with two from-placed balls by Evan O’Shea and one by Charlie Lyons.
Ballinhassig slowly got to grips with the game with a pointed free by Brian Lynch and a great goal by Adam O’Sullivan having been played in by Michael Sheehan, which O’Sullivan followed up quickly with a point.
O’Shea kept Valleys in touch with a 65, free and one from play and another from Charlie Lyons, as they trailed by a point by the 20th minute.
Ballinhassig exerted pressure approaching halftime to lead by five with Lynch contributing three and Fintan O’Leary one, but Valleys finished with a flourish with points William Hurley and Rory O’Sullivan to trail by 1-9 to 0-9 at the short whistle.
The Ballinhassig full back line of Eoin Lombard, Donncha O’Donovan, and James Reardan were in complete control, while Shane O’Leary was posing problems for the Blues in the center of the park.
Despite playing into a strong wind in the second half the sides were level after forty minutes with O’Sullivan, Tomas O’Brien, Shane O’Leary, O’Shea, and Jack Walsh hitting points for Valley Rovers.
Over the next eight minutes, the sides were level twice more, as Ger Collins and Evan Cullinane hit points for Ballinhassig, and O’Sullivan and O’Shea replied for Valleys.
The Innishannon side failed to score for the next 15 minutes as Ballinhassig raised their game.
Ballinhassig netminder Patrick Collins' long pucks-outs were causing havoc for Valley Rovers’ full-back line, as two frees from the goalkeeper, another by Lynch and points from O’Sullivan and Conor Desmond stretched the Blues’ advantage to six points approach the final whistle.
Shane O’Leary struck a point for Valley Rovers and a goal by Kevin Canty, having been set up by Eoghan Crowley and Darragh Murphy was not enough to save Valley Rovers as the final whistle sounded.
B Lynch 0-7 (0-4 f, 0-3 65), A O’Sullivan 1-3, E Cullinane 0-2, P Collins 0-2 f, S McCarthy, G Collins, C Desmond, R Lombard, F O’Leary 0-1 each.
E O’Shea 0-7 (0-5 f, 0-1 65), R O’Sullivan 0-3, K Canty 1-0, S O’Leary, C Lyons 0-2 each, T O’Brien, J Walsh, W Hurley 0-1 each.
P Collins; E Lombard, D O’Donovan, J Reardan; Conor Desmond, S McCarthy, M Sheehan; C Grainger, M Collins; A O’Sullivan, R Lombard, F O’Leary, B Lynch, E Cullinane, G Collins.
S Lombard for M Collins (42), J Grainger for R Lombard (50).
J Lynch; J O’Driscoll, Cormac Desmond, T O’Brien; D Lynch, D Murphy, W Hurley; C Kilduff, E Guinane; K O’Flynn C O’Shea, R O’Sullivan; E O’Shea, M Salvic, C Lyons.
S O’Leary for C O’Shea (22), K Canty for O’Flynn, J Walsh for Kilduff (both 36), C Butler for Salvic (41), S O’Regan for Guinane (52), E Crowley for Lyons (54), S McEntee for O’Shea (60).
A O’Connor (Ballygarvan).
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