Great win in Lismore
On Sunday, January 23 the league returned after it was delayed due to Covid-19. First up was Valley Rangers A team who made the trip to Lismore to take on Lismore FC.
From the kick off it was a lively game and in the 6th minute the 1st shot on target fell to Lemack for Valley Rangers but the Lismore goalkeeper made the save. In the 17th minute a corner for Valley Rangers, taken by Adrian Carr, finds Rory Galvin who heads over the bar. It is nip and tuck for the rest of the first half but both teams fail to find the back of the net and the score is 0-0 at half-time.
A substitution for Valley Rangers as Adrian Carr comes off and Tom Hartnett comes on and Jack Lezack comes on for Chris Kelly. 3 minutes into the second half a shot by Rory Galvin is well saved by the Lismore goalkeeper. In the 51st minute the opening goal of the game comes for Lismore as the forward rounds the Valley goalkeeper and finds the net to give Lismore a 1-0 lead.
Valley Rangers are putting more pressure on the Lismore defence and in the 63rd minute a shot by Ted Noonan is again saved by the Lismore goalkeeper. A third substitution for Valley Rangers finds Paul Geary coming on for Kevin Cotter. 20 minutes to go now and it is all Valley Rangers and another shot by Tom Hartnett is saved by the Lismore goalkeeper.
In the 75th minute a shot by Jack Lezack, the Lismore goalkeeper gets his fingers to it and it hits the crossbar and goes out for a corner and from the resulting corner the ball finds Paul Geary and his shot is cleared off the line. We are into the last 5 minutes now and it is all
Valley Rangers. Lismore try to clear their lines in defence but the ball is blocked down by Paul Geary and finds its way to Tom Hartnett who slots the ball home to give Valley Rangers a well-deserved equaliser.
Valley Rangers are pushing for a winner now and a sweeping move in the 91st minute from Lemack who passes the ball to Paul Geary who passes the ball to Stephen Carr who takes a shot from outside the box and finds the top corner of the goal to give Valley Rangers a 2-1 lead which they deserve and for me already goal of the season from Stephen Carr. The referee blows the full-time whistle and a winning start for Valley Rangers A team. Over the 90 minutes Valley Rangers were the better team and had a lot of chances especially in the 2nd half and a masterstroke to bring on Paul Geary who had 2 assists in the game.
In the second game of the day Valley Rangers B team welcomed Brideview B to Conna for a 2pm kick off. This was a tight game for the majority of the 1st half with both teams giving noting away and with few chances the score at half-time was 0-0. It is a very even game but in the second half Brideview made the break through to make it 1-0. Valley Rangers B team kept pushing for an equaliser but it was not meant to be today and Brideview B won the game on a score line of 1-0. This was a very good performance by Valley Rangers B team last season they were conceding a lot of goals and looking at them yesterday that will not be the case this season and they have improved a lot.
U13
Valley Rangers U13s secured a great win over Castlebridge an Saturday, 22nd January in Castlelyons. Valley went 1-0 down in the first half. A goal by Tomas Morrison in the second half gave Valley the urgency to push on. Everyone had nearly conceded to coming away with 1 point but a late penalty award saw Kenneth O’Connell score from the penalty spot in the closing minutes of the game to give Valley the win. A well-deserved win for this Valley group who have been training very hard this season.
Valley Rangers U9s played in a blitz away to Castlebridge on Saturday afternoon. 22 kids travelled with 3 teams each playing 2 games each. Everyone enjoyed getting back playing and thanks to Castlebridge for hosting the blitz.
FIXTURES FOR JANUARY 30TH
Kinsalebeg FC v Valley Rangers B, kick-off 11am. Valley Rangers A v Inch FC, kick off 2pm.