|
Valleys Win Under 14 County Premier Title |
|
Saturday, 12 September 2009 22:42 |
The spirit of Jake O'Donoghue was clearly in evidence as Valley Rovers showed a great spirit to win the U14 Premier County Football title on Wednesday the 9th of September. After an enthralling hour's football that saw eight goals and some tremendous passages of play joint captains Jason Crowley, Jack Murphy and Darragh Lordan lifted the cup and pointed to the skies and said this is for Jake.
Beaten in last year's final and struck down by tragedy just over a month ago with the death of their captain Jake O'Donoghue, the Innishannon youngsters produced a stunning performance to land the title beating a gallant Mallow side. Amassing a tally of 4-13, just five of that coming from frees, the superlatives to describr their play are many. In defence despite conceding four goals they were well in control which was as much to do with the magnificence of Tim Casey at full-back as his mean half-back line where Chris Hayes on the right pick-pocketed his towering opposite number a couple of times and orchestrated attack after attack.
In the pivotal position was Darragh Lordan who rarely put a foot wrong all night and when Mallow came raiding late on in search of goals, it was Lordan who stood like a brick wall in the face of relentless pressure. At the coal face in midfield waged a savage battle for supremacy with the 'Rovers duo of jack Lyons and Josh Powell having a ferocious tussle with Mallow's imposing pair of Ryan Harkin and Killian O'Connor. harkin was hugely influential in the opening half and when he slotted home a penalty late in the first-half, his side trailed by just a point despite being second best for much of the opening 30 minutes.
Up front was where the aesthetics of how this valley Rovers team has progressed since last year really shone, so much so that to select one of thesix is a hard task in itself. However, no one will argue that the kudos and man-of-the match accolade would have to be split between Jason Crowley at full-forward and Jack Murphy on the 40. crowley rowed in with a tally of 2-6 while murphy helped himself to 2-2 and all evening the pair tormented their opposing numbers with clever link-up play and telepathic passing that was a joy th watch. The game hung in the balance for long stretches and with the North Cork champions providing the priceless value of plundering goals at crucial times.
Rovers looked to be headed for choppy waters as they trailed 1-8 to 3-3 at the break after dominating the first half. Enter the aforementioned and when the pair bagged a goal each in the 37th and 38th minutes respectively, the game was turned on its head as the Innishanon side now led 3-9 to 3-3. From their to the finish they remained in the ascendancy as Crowley continued to cause havoc kicking over a series of breathtaking points allied to Murphy's crucial goal on the 54th minute that effectively sealed the match. Mallow, with wing back Tim Kennedy excelling and the imposing runs of Callan Clifford continuing to be a source of danger refused to give in and were rewarded with a goal by Peirce O'Riordan and points from Ryan Harkin but it was too little, too late. |