{"id":569564,"date":"2026-07-26T22:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/569564\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:48:10","slug":"premier-sfc-valley-rovers-finish-with-a-flourish-to-see-off-st-michaels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/569564\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier SFC: Valley Rovers finish with a flourish to see off St Michaels\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valley Rovers: 1-7 (1-1-5)\u00a0<\/p>\n

St Michael\u2019s 1-5 (1-1-3)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valley Rovers finished strongly to pip St Michael\u2019s in the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC clash at Shanbally on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

The Carrigdhoun outfit did deserve to win this Group 2 Round 1 tie, prevailing by two points in an encounter that never truly sparked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valley Rovers won\u2019t mind; this is an important win given Newcestown and Nemo Rangers are coming down the tracks. It had looked like a draw might ensue, but the team in green and white landed the last two scores to pull through.<\/p>\n

They recorded the victory without their Cork footballer Jacob O\u2019Driscoll, who is abroad. The subs made a big impact, with player-manager Fiachra Lynch and Jack Walsh influential.<\/p>\n

Valley Rovers led by four points at the interval, but given they were assisted by a gale and had eight wides, St Michael\u2019s would have been the happier at the short whistle.<\/p>\n

\" Valley Rovers’ Eoin Delaney celebrates his two-pointer against St Michael’s.\u00a0Picture: David Keane<\/p>\n

St Michael\u2019s, who briefly led at the start of the second half, could have levelled the game at the death, but Luke O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s two-point free drifted wide. The city outfit also lost key forward Eoghan Buckley at half-time, a significant blow.<\/p>\n

Valley Rovers made the most of the wind early on. Eoin Delaney landed a two-pointer, followed by a 45 from goalkeeper Billy Curtin. Their wides were totting up \u2014 six in the first quarter \u2014 but they did get a goal after 20 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shane Ryan finished low into the corner after Thomas O\u2019Brien set him up, making it 1-3 to 0-0. They wouldn\u2019t score again in the half.<\/p>\n

St Michael\u2019s finally got their first score 21 minutes in when Eoghan Buckley pointed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a game that won\u2019t live long in the memory, albeit with the wind having a massive bearing, St Michael\u2019s went into the dressing room just four points behind when Buckley \u2014 their only scorer so far \u2014 bisected the posts. It was 1-3 to 0-2 at half-time.<\/p>\n

It was now St Michael\u2019s turn to use the strong wind, and they did so straightaway. A driving run 30 seconds into the new half from Fionn\u00e1n Leahy resulted in the defender finishing high into the net. Andrew Murphy then raised an orange flag as St Michael\u2019s led for the first time, 1-4 to 1-3.<\/p>\n

\" St Michael’s Andrew Murphy is tackled by Valley Rovers’ Shane Ryan and Eoin Delaney during their Premier SFC clash at Shanbally.\u00a0Picture: David Keane<\/p>\n

Valley\u2019s goalkeeper Curtin kicked a difficult free into the wind to draw parity five minutes into the second half, and they went in front when Adam Walsh-Murphy slotted over a free, 1-5 to 1-4, with 18 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

The sides traded points as the game moved into added time, with Valley Rovers holding a slender advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sub Jack Walsh then extended the lead to two. St Michael\u2019s had the chance to share the spoils, but O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s two-point effort from a free went wide.<\/p>\n

Scorers for Valley Rovers: S Ryan 1-0, E Delaney (1 2pt), B Curtin (0-1 45, 0-1 f) 0-2 each, F Lynch (0-1 f), A Walsh-Murphy (0-1 f), J Walsh 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

St Michael\u2019s: F Leahy 1-0, A Murphy (1 2pt), E Buckley 0-2 each, L O\u2019Herlihy 0-1 (0-1 f).<\/p>\n

VALLEY ROVERS: B Curtin; C O\u2019Keeffe, T McGrath, N Daly; T O\u2019Brien, C Johnson, L Casey; C O\u2019Leary, W Hurley; O McCarthy, E Guinane, A Walsh-Murphy; S McEntee, E Delaney, S Ryan.<\/p>\n

Subs: A Casey for S McEntee (h-t), M Woods for C Johnson (42), J Walsh for E Delaney (47), F Lynch for S Ryan (52), E O\u2019Reilly for O McCarthy (58).<\/p>\n

ST MICHAEL\u2019S: M O\u2019Connell; R Ahern, J Golden, S Keating; L Carroll, F Leahy, A Murphy; E Hickey, E Sheehan; L de B\u00farca, A Hennessy, J Ryan; L O\u2019Herlihy, E Buckley, S Murphy.<\/p>\n

Subs: R O’Shaughnessy for E Buckley (h-t, inj), R Kavanagh for L de B\u00farca (47), R Coleman for A Murphy (52), E Hegarty for S Murphy (58).<\/p>\n

Referee: Robert Whelan (Aghada).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valley Rovers: 1-7 (1-1-5)\u00a0 St Michael\u2019s 1-5 (1-1-3)\u00a0 Valley Rovers finished strongly to pip St Michael\u2019s in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4365,1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-569564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gaelic-football","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}