Crossword Genius

Send young boy back in direction of valley (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dale

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'valley' is the definition.
(I know that Dale is a type of valley)

'send young boy back in direction' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'boy' could be 'dal' and 'dal' is found in the answer.
'direction' could be 'e' (E is an example) and 'e' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dale that I've seen before include "An English valley" , "Valley; Trollope's Bell and Lily" , "Low ground" , "Valley, particularly in Northern England" , "Open valley" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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