Cromane 3-17, Valentia 1-10

The Cromane seniors produced a whirlwind start (leading by 2-4 to no score after ten minutes) to convincingly take the two Division 5 Co. League points in Cromane on Saturday afternoon.  After that start (and with the aid of a strong gale) Cromane always had their visitors ,Valentia, at arms’ length.  In truth, they never really looked in trouble over the hour.   Liam Walsh got the ball rolling with two early points, before his snapshot beat Anthony Sheehan in Valentia goals to put Cromane up 1-2 to no score after just four minutes.  Two Darren Houlihan placed balls, either side of a fine eighth minute goal from Sean O’Sullivan, left the home side ahead 2-4 to no score with 10 minutes gone.  
Valentia (short a few regulars) battled back and points from Stephen Sheehan and Ger O’Shea seemed to have settled them, as they trailed 2-5 to 0-2 after 15 minutes.

However, Cromane had an excellent second quarter kicking 1-8 without reply. Their third goal of the half came from Mikey Houlihan in the 16^th minute and then their forwards really started to gel.  Seán O’Sullivan rolled back the years to kick five excellent scores, while Paul Patrick O’Sullivan, Finbar Casey, and Micheál Shaughnessy also split the posts with fine efforts.  A late first half free from Ger O’Shea left Cromane in cruise control, as they led by 3-13 to 0-3 at the break.

It was always going to take a Herculean effort from Valentia in the second half to get back into the game and they didn’t want for effort. Two quick Andy Quigley points (one a free) and a fine point from Ger O’Shea had them trailing by 3-14 to 0-6 with 20 minutes left.  
Cromane steadied the ship and started playing some short passing, running football into the strong wind. This paid dividends with three points in a row from Paul Patrick O’Sullivan, Sean O’Sullivan (who kicked 1-6 from play overall), and a Darren Houlihan free (Cromane’s last score) to restore their 19-point lead.  The Cromane backs were touch-tight throughout and never really looked like conceding a goal, that is until Valentia were awarded a late penalty for a foul on full forward Stephen Sheehan. Sheehan, himself, dusted himself down
to nicely knock the spot kick into the net. This made it 3-17 to 1-7 and three further points from Quigley, O’Shea, and Paul O’Sullivan ended the scoring with Cromane comfortable winners at 3-17 to 1-10.

Scorers - Cromane: S O’Sullivan 1-6, L Walsh 1-2, D Houlihan 0-4 (0-2f, 0-1 ‘45’), M Houlihan 1-0, PP O'Sullivan 0-3 (0-1 free), F Casey 0-1, M Shaughnessy 0-1.

Valentia:  A Quigley 0-4 (0-3 frees), Stephen Sheehan 1-1 (1-0 penalty), G O'Shea 0-4 (0-1f), P O’Sullivan 0-1.