VALLEY ROVERS

U10s 

We had a very enjoyable season with the under 10’s again this year. We had a panel of roughly 35 girls who trained on Wednesday nights in Innishannon. Due to the fine weather this year, we were able to train un-interrupted right through the season. We played 9 matches throughout the year against all the local football teams such as Clonakilty (2), Kinsale (2), Courcey Rovers (2), Bandon (2) and Eire Og. These matches were very beneficial as they were spaced out across the season and helped get the girls used to match day situations and also helped break the monotonony of training. The only difficulty we had was getting games with teams that had similar player numbers at this age.

For the first year ever, we entered the Passage West All Ireland football blitz in September. There were 76 teams taking part, coming from as far away as Belfast, Dublin, and Galway. We started the morning off by meeting many Cartoon characters before being led onto the field of play marching behind a Pipe band, this was a novel thing for all the girls and we suspect may have been the highlight of the day for many! We ended up winning all 3 of our matches against St Colmans, Kanturk and Sarsfields from Kildare. What was great to see at this event was that every child who played had a parent present at some stage of the day, which was a great boost to all players.

We finished off the year with our annual football Blitz in Brinny where we entered 2 teams who played games against teams from Bandon, Kinsale, Courcey Rovers and Clonakilty, this day was a great success with sandwiches and teas served up by the many club members and parents who helped on the day. Every child from each club also received a “goody bag” from the West Cork board and thanks to Mandy O’Brien for organising this.

The girls themselves showed huge improvement through the year. While the emphasis was on expanding the basic skills they learned the previous year, this year they developed their tackling skills and their awareness of team mates who are in better positions. For future improvements at this age group, it would be beneficial if a series of non-competitive matches/blitzes were organised by the West Cork board, as it was difficult at times to get clubs to play games.

Many thanks again to Sean Michael Collins and Mark O’Sullivan for sharing the trainings this year with me, to Noel Kenny for his help, and also to the mothers who helped out on the weekly rota (organised by Mary O’Brien and Linda Kelly).

Thank you

John Hurley

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U12s

Under 12s played in West Cork B competition in 2014. We played 7 league games and won all 7 comfortably.


This qualified us for the County C Quarter-final where we played Na Piarsaigh. We were beaten by 1 point (a game we should have won). The game was played at Na Piarsaigh and we had great support at the match. Most parents attended.

In the West Cork B semi-final we beat Bantry. We were subsequently beaten by Rosscarbery in the West Cork B final.

In addition to these competitive games we also had Under 12 challenge games over the summer. We played Eire Og twice, Kinsale twice and Bandon once. So in total we had 15 Under 12 matches over the summer.


I also arranged Under 11 games for some of the younger girls (born in 2003). The Under 11 games were against Bandon, Roscarbery, Kinsale and Eire Og (so in total we played 20 under 11/12 matches over the summer).

We commenced training in March and finished in October. Training was once weekly from March to July. From July to October we trained twice weekly.

All in all we had a great year. Most of the girls improved dramatically over the summer (especially those that attended training twice weekly). They are a great bunch of kids and training was very well attended. Most evenings we had in excess of 20 girls training.

The older girls (born in 2002) also played in 5 under 13 west Cork league games. We drew one of these matches and lost the other 4.

Gerry
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U14

The first of our West Cork league games started against Courcey Rovers in Ballinspittle (lost). Next up were Clann na Gael above in Brinny (lost).
Skibbereen were played in Skibb(lost).
We beat Rosscarbery but a draw versus Beara, saw us not qualify for the knock out stages of the league.
This saw our very short season come to an end prematurely on the 27th April.
A summer league for u15s was next up but this started in September when the girls were back at school and interest had waned.
Training had continued for the summer and with no games for the girls it was very disappointing.
Challenge we're sought but with no success.
The u15 league was also disjointed and lack of interest or other team commitments from other clubs saw some games not being played and some taking a long time to arrange.
The West Cork board should arrange this summer league for u14s in future.
A great effort was put in by all the girls during the year, but great credit goes to Chris, Seamus and John for holding the girls together during the summer months.
The squad of girls is as follows:
Aoife O Brien, Emma Murphy, Danielle Murphy, Eva Murphy, Olivia Murphy, Ciara Nash, Grainne DO'Flynn, Jennifer ODonovan, Isobel Lordan, Roisin ODonovan, Emer Whelehan, Adi OSullivan, Nadia Settini, Emma Cuskelly, Kate Murphy, Davena Sheehan, Cathy Lynch, Kate OHalloran, Carol Cremin, Clodagh ODonovan, Niamh Hurley, Roisin OSullivan, Ellen Fennelly, Olivia Hayes, Nicola Callanan.
Thanks to all the Mom's who helped out during the year with the washing of the jerseys and supervision at training and in the dressing room.

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Minors

The Minor team were graded B in the West Cork league alongside Bandon, Ilen Rovers and Gabriel Rangers. We played Bandon in the first match in Innishannon on 22/8/2014 and won by a point with a score of 3-10 to 4-6. We played Ilen Rovers in Innishannon on Tuesday 9/9/2014. We won this match with a score of 7-13 to 6-7. Our final match in the league was against Gabriel Rangers. This was played in Drimoleague on 13/9/2014 and Valleys won with a score of 4-14 to 3-9. All three games were very competitive. Valley’s finished top of the league and were drawn against Douglas in the quarter final of the Minor B County. This match was played in Douglas on 12/10/2014. This was a fantastic match on a very warm day and every girl put in a great effort. Valleys led for most of the match but unfortunately due to a late rally by Douglas we lost the match by 2 points.

All was not lost though as we yet had to play the West Cork Final against Bandon and this was played on 30/11/2014. After the disappointment of losing the quarter final the girls were determined to finish the year on a high. Everyone put in a great effort and we came away worthy winners.

This was a fantastic result as this Minor team didn’t have a specific trainer. The majority of the team were part of the Intermediate panel under the guidance of John Power but once the Intermediate championship ended training also ended. They didn’t get together again until the first round of the league against Bandon. It was hard to get numbers and we even had to play 13 a side against Ilen Rovers. At times it was a hard task to get them on to the pitch but once there, they gave it their all and played really good football. They have always played really well as a group. Thanks to all the girls for an enjoyable campaign. Thanks to Neilus Cremin, John Power and Paul Farrell for giving a hand out for training and West Cork final. We also had a little help from our friends along the way (They know who they are)

Mandy and I have been involed with this group of girls probably since they were playing under 12 and we have had some great days. We wish them all the best for 2015 campaign.

Mandy O’Brien

Theresa Richardson