St Vals win dour struggle

St Vals 3-9 Rockban 1-7.

Played at the same venue, favourites St Val’s and Rockban fought a dour battle, for supremacy, in a fragmented game, riddled with mistakes and some glaring misses from both sides. The overall balance and depth in strength won the battle for St Val’s, but they will have to show vastly improved form, if they are to pose a threat to Inch in an unique final. Inch will rue two guilt edged chances before the short whistle when indecisiveness, saw them squander the opportunity of being much closer than the 2-5 to 0-5, scoreline indicated, at the short whistle. The most severe damage was done to Rockban ,by new recruit Caoimhe Creedon and Emma Coomey, they caused the beleaguered Rockban backs headaches all through and were the contributors of the two first half goals. The introduction of Noelle Corkery for the injured Claire O’Mahony and the pace of Jean Lucey and Aine Murphy added to the headaches of Rockban, who would have been overrun but for the excellent work of Niamh Keohane and the persistence of Shona Hanrahan. Ellen Healy moved to the half line and won great ball and had her shooting been on a par with her ability to win possession, the game would have been out of reach for Rockban long before the end. While the Rockban forwards especially Valerie Mulcahy, Mary White, Sile Burns and the Howard sisters, did threaten when they won possession, they were quickly closed down by the hard tackling Val’s defence, where to her credit Claire Ambrose did a fine marking job on Valerie Mulcahy and limited her to 3 points. The most absorbing battle cantered around midfield with Briege Corkery and Louise Cohalan having a right, ding dong joust, with Louise Crowley and Catriona Foley, effectively over the hour they neutralised each other. But the overall edge belonged to Val’s who had fewer weak links than Rockban.

Niamh Canty St Vals tries to get past Valerie Mulcahy

A point from Jean Lucey and a goal from Caoimhe Creedon early
in the 2nd half left Rockban with a mountain to climb, to their
credit they never threw in the towel and a goal from Margaret
Howard and point form Valerie Mulcahy kept them in the hunt .

Again their lack of strength up front, cost them dearly, in the
closing stages, with some gilt opportunities missed. A few wonderful
saves from Elaine Harte did give Rockban heart, but they could
only muster one more point in the half courtesy of Louise Crowley,
while St Vals did not do much better despite having numerous opportunities,.
They registered points from, Jean Lucey, Noelle Corkery and Caoimhe
Creedon. Overall, while the game was quite competitive, it lacked
the overall class and bite, of the previous Semi final. St Val’s
fully deserved their win and will know only too well that they
will have to play a lot better to take their first Co title.

Micheal John O’Keefe, was again referee and he did so effectively,
with a minimum of fuss and his task was made easier, with both
teams, concentrating on playing football all through.

Cork Senior Finalists St Vals

St Val’s Scorers; Caoimhe Creedon 2-1. Emma Coomey 1-1 Jean Lucey
0-4 Aine Murphy 0-2 Noelle Corkery 0-1

Rockban Margaret Howard 1-1 Valerie Mulcahy 0-3 Sile Burns 0-1
Louis Crowley 0-1. Therese Howard 0-1.

St Vals. Phil O’Mahony, Emma Dunne, Catriona Barrett, Claire Ambrose
Niamh Canty, Fiona Crowley, Vera Foley, Briege Corkery, Claire
O’Mahony, Jean Lucey. Aine Murphy, Emma Coomey, Caoimhe Creedon,
Ellen Healy Subs used Noelle Corkery, Karen Cotter Eva Dunne.

Rockban Elaine Harte, Onora Mulcahy, Shona Hanrahan, Deirdre Mulcahy,
Niamh Keohane, Deirdre Foley, Denise Murphy, Louise Crowley, Catriona
Foley, Therese Howard, Sile Burns, Mary White, Valerie Mulcahy,
Elaine Casey Margaret Howard. Subs used Sinead Dilworth. Leanne
Hughes.

Fr Liam Kelleher