Carrigaline 2-9 Valley Rovers 0-10
(JJ Hurley)
Carrigaline blitzed Valley Rovers with two second half goals to qualify for the Precure.ie South East Junior A Football Championship following a victory at Ballygarvan on Saturday.
While the hero for Carrigaline was Sam Horan, as he twice found the Valleys net, but it was the reappearance of Nicholas Murphy in a Carrigaline jersey, wearing the number 14 shirt that raised eyebrows.
While Valleys might have carried the favourites tag into the game, It was Carrig who set the early tone as Thomas Vaughan, Cormac Ryan and Tim Cronin all scored in the opening three minutes.
Any possibility that Carrig were going to steal a march were hauled in as the Innishannon outfit found their range as Evan O’Shea and Jason Cronin had points.
Pa Mellet, who was busy over the hour, added a fourth point before Shane Ryan and Brian Lordan had the sides on parity on twenty minutes as the score board read 0-4 to 0-4.
Lordan was then forced off with an injury as Carrig began to take control and Cronin again fired over, quickly followed by a Ryan score as they led by two on 25 minutes.
From there to the break, Carrig were in control as Sam Horan and Vaughan insured their side were in control with the tallies at 0-8 to 0-4.
If Valleys were looking for an instant response to the first half deficit, a Carrigaline goal was not what they wanted as a palmed pass from Nicholas Murphy, left Horan in for a goal.
To be fair to the Brinny outfit, they never threw in the towel as O’Shea, Ryan and Jack Walsh were all on target as they offered their side a lifeline with the score at 1-8 to 0-7.
The recovery was short-lived as Horan pounced for another goal on 50 minutes following a neat pass from Ryan Kenneally.
With Carrigaline in the box seat, it was another eight minutes before Valleys replied with a point from Darragh Keane.
While Jack Walsh had a goal chance saved late on, two Valley points from Ryan were not enough to prevent Carrigaline reaching another final in 2024.
Scores:
Carrigaline: S Horan 2-1, T Vaughan 0-3 (2F), Cormac Ryan, T Cronin (0-2 each), P Mellet 0-1
Valley Rovers S Ryan 0-4 E O’ Shea 0-2, J Cronin, D Keane J Walsh, B Lordan 0-1 each
CARRIGALINE: C Laverty; E Murphy, P Laverty, B Murphy; K McNulty, S Dwane, T Foley; P Roynane, P Mellet; S Horan; D Sutton, C Ryan; T Cronin, N Murphy, T Vaughan.
Subs: R Kenneally for P Ronayne (28 inj), L Ahern for C Ryan (52), J Crilly for D Sutton (59).
VALLEY ROVERS: J Woods; N Daly, A Sheehan ,C O’Sullivan; L Casey, D Lynch, B Lordan; D Kearney, C O’ Shea; E Crowley, J Walsh, J Cronin ,S Ryan, D Carthew, E O’Shea.
Subs Jack Walsh for B Lordan (17 inj)
Referee Alan O’ Connor, Ballygarvan
Nicolas Murphy looks to go past Ciaran O'Shea in the Procure.ie SE Junior A Semi Final In Ballygarvan today (Credit Bernard Laverty)
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