Premier IHC: Staying power stands to Valley Rovers

The possibilities were varied ahead of the final set of fixtures in Group 3 of the Co-op SuperStores Premier IHC and Valley Rovers experienced a rollercoaster on Sunday afternoon.

Going into their game with Mallow at Páirc Uí Rinn, the Innishannon side could have won and still been eliminated or lost and managed to qualify. However, having had a sending-off before half-time and trailing for most of the second half, the Rovers looked to be heading out of the competition.

That was until a fourth-quarter fightback, outscoring their opponents by 0-8 to 0-2 in the final 14 minutes of normal time plus stoppages, winning by 0-23 to 0-19. That, combined with Dungourney triumphing against Lisgoold, meant Valleys finished second, moving forward to a quarter-final tie against Cloyne.

Naturally, club chairperson John O’Donovan was delighted with how they managed to turn things around.

“It looked bad there with about 15 minutes to go but, fair play to the lads, they dug deep and got the win that we were looking for, thank God.

“We're through now and that's all we wanted out of the day really.

“At the end of the day, all you can focus is on the job in front of you and win the game and if you win the game you knew you weren't going to be in a relegation battle then.

“Fair play to the lads, they dug deep in the end and, to be honest, I thought it was a very harsh sending off but these things happen.”

In the second half, the impact of subs Johnny Kiely and Colm Butler was a major boost for Valleys.

“The two lads could consider themselves very unlucky not to be playing,” O’Donovan said, “but, in fairness, there was no pouting or anything, they came on and just they made a huge difference I thought, fair play to them.

“They just stuck at it. As I said, 15 minutes to go, I think we were four points down and a man down, obviously, but they dug deep and once we got a bit of a flow to our play, I thought we looked good.

“We probably left a couple of goals after us as well, but yeah, we’re delighted.”

In addition, the 11 points scored by Chris O’Leary, who has returned to the club after a spell in Dublin, was a major asset.

“He landed some big scores when the pressure was on,” O’Donovan said.

“As you know, we were without Chris for about three years and it’s massive boost to everyone to have him back.

“We’re just delighted to be through to the next stage of it, absolutely delighted.”