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Valley Rovers in prime position but St Finbarr's test awaits

EchoLive.ie, 18 Aug

Manager Denis Kiely was pleased with their resilience against Douglas

but acknowledges they still have work to do

Valley Rovers' Fiachra Lynch is tackled by Sean Powter of Douglas

during the McCarthy Insurance Group PSFC match between Douglas and

Valley Rovers in Carrigaline. Picture: David Creedon

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Jack McKay

As Mallow shocked St Finbarr’s and blew the number one spot wide open

in Group 3, Valley Rovers’ win over Douglas was given that bit more

significance.

With Douglas now eliminated and on the cusp of relegation, Mallow will

have their work cut out if they want to top the group.

That means that a result for Valleys against St Finbarr’s could be

enough – but if they are to topple the 2021 champions, they’ve got to

improve, according to manager Denis Kiely.

“We made hard work for ourselves in the second-half [against Douglas].

We were resilient and this is modern football, we had a strong defence

and we set out at the start of the year to have a strong defence.

“We turned ball over there, we gave ball away, when we just shouldn't

have,” says Kiely. “You can really get punished when you do that, and

it’s an element of our game that we need to work on, and we are working

on it.

“We didn't cough up too many opportunities to Douglas here today. We

were very tight in defence. Once the ball is inside the 45, most people

aren’t going to kick because out of 10 kicks only two go over.

In the modern game possession is everything and we need to be more

careful with it.

That they do – and given it was the concession of possession against

Mallow that left them trailing at half-time, they’ll need to be far

more careful against the Barrs.

Especially when you factor in the sheer quality the Togher outfit boast

going forward.

While Valleys’ period of consistency and control came in the second

half of their draw with Mallow, it was the second quarter against

Douglas that the Innishannon outfit found their feet and turned the

scoreboard in their favour.

Valley Rovers' William Hurley is surrounded by Douglas players.

Picture: David Creedon Valley Rovers' William Hurley is surrounded by

Douglas players. Picture: David Creedon

“We were down two points to one, and then we got the next six points,”

he explains. “We just kind of took over and we’ve a good shot taker –

Ciarán McCarthy there scored one or two outstanding points that not

every fella can kick.

“There'll be no relegation anyway and that's always a fear, so I’ll

sleep well tonight!

“But we have room to improve and we're looking forward to playing the

Barrs.”

Goalkeeper Eoin O’Sullivan was an unlikely hero, not only for his

reliability between the posts, but for his free that proved to be the

winning score, with their only point in the second half.

“We’ve a fabulous young keeper there and he put over that point from a

long way out.

He's Cork quality that lad, so to pull out a win by a point, it’s great

for us.

We all expected the Barrs to continue their group stage winning streak

and make it 14 in a row, but Kiely was quick to point out that Mallow

could spring a surprise in his post-match interview.

And he was right.

“I'm sure the Barrs will [win], well – no disrespect to Mallow, they

could turn the Barrs over tomorrow.

“Mallow are an outstanding team, and they should probably have put us

away the last day but we dug it out again and you’ve got to be

resilient.

“It's a great championship and a great group that we're in, having

three points now is no guarantee of anything, but it puts us in a

reasonably good position.”

EXCITING

Whether they can do what Mallow did remains to be seen – but they’ve

certainly got a chance at making it out of what has turned out to be an

unpredictable group.

But isn’t that always the case in these championships?

Valley Rovers edge Douglas for crucial win in sloppy PSFC encounter

Unpredictability is what makes Cork hurling and football so special.

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