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| Nemo Rangers Launches Centenary Year Celebrations 1922-2022 | | Sat 20th November will live long in the memory of those fortunate to be present, due to Covid regulations, at the launch of the Nemo Rangers Centenary Year. Gathered together was a representative group from all sections of the club including underage players, Team managers and captains, present and former Officers and committee members from all sections of the club, All star and All-Ireland winners, Intercounty Managers, with pride of place going to the Intermediate Hurling Team of 1971 who 50 years ago this month of November won the County Championship. They were also joined by the Chairman of Cork County GAA Bord, Seandún GAA Divisional Bord, Chairperson of the County Camogie Bord and the Treasurer of Cork Ladies Gaelic Football Association and representatives of the Club sponsors. |  | | Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Mary Rose Desmond, Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Chairman of the Centenary Committee David O’Kelly, Club Chairman Pádraig Treacy, Club president Bernadette Allen | Club PRO Eoin Weldon acted as MC on the day and ensured the smooth running of the event. He amazed all present with his stats on the various key note players before inviting them to relay their Nemo Story and what Nemo meant to them.
The proceedings were open by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Mary Rose Desmond. She outlined her association with club as a young girl growing up on the South Douglas Road, coming from a family whose parents came from two other great Cork City Clubs on opposite sides of the River, but she and her brothers were Nemo people, she talked about going to the matches “talent spotting” and describe Nemo as their “Community Centre”, this was a theme returned to by speaker after speaker about the closeness and sense of belonging, about the Nemo Family. |  | | Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Mary Rose Desmond | Next up was Chairman of the Centenary Committee David O’Kelly. He started by outlining the history of the formation of Nemo Rangers back from discussions in late 1921 to the merger of both Nemo and Rangers in March 2022. He then structured his presentation of three defining area.
He then went on to talk about the programme of events for 2022 from the raising of the Centenary Flag, unveiling of three photo presentation walls depicting the three areas mentioned and the first event of the Calander, the Ger Kiely Puc fada. He spoke about the holding of various adult and underage tournaments and the holding of normal calendar events such as Street Leagues and Golf Classic but with a centenary Theme. The highlight of the year will be the welcome home week in March scheduled for the week of the actual merger with the centre piece of that been the Centenary Dinner on March 19th in Rochestown Park Hotel.
Mr. O’Kelly then invited members of the Centenary Committee to present to all present with one of our commemorative centenary pins which will be available from the Club shop from Monday, he then introduced some of our players wearing some of the Centenary gear that has been produced and which will also be available for sale from Monday, these included a Polo Shirt and our special centenary Jersey with our centenary logo watermarked on the from and at base of the rear of the Jersey there are seven medals each representing one of the All-Ireland Titles and its year won.
He continued by talking about the Centenary wall that is to be erected as a permanent means to remembering members past and present, a project been over seen by Sean Hayes. He concluded by say that the concise History of Nemo Rangers will be published in 2022 and will be launch in November of next year. |  | | Chairman of the Centenary Committee David O’Kelly | David O’Kelly’s presentation was followed by three high profile speakers Dinny Allen, Billy Morgan and captain of the 71 Intermediate Hurlers. Eddie Brophy. Each in turn gave very passionate speeches about their Nemo involvement and more importantly what Nemo meant to them. They recalled the importance comradeship, about Nemo being a family, the sense of belonging. They spoke about those who encouraged their participation, how they got involved, the driving forces that cooper fastened the successful flow of underage players and about the great motivators within the club and all remembered the late Jim Cremin who passed away last year, all to soon and his passion for the club and how he passed this motivation on in the Dressing room.
Next up was Club Chairman, Pádraig Treacy. During his address he spoke about three key areas where we have come from, the present and the next steps forward. He spoke about the merger of two clubs in march of 1922 as “a need for survival”, he spoke about a journey of highs and lows about success and defeats. He highlighted some of the milestones achieved by the club over the years the “unique double of intermediate hurling and football titles in 1928, something that has not been repeated since by any club, the five in-a-row Junior Hurling titles between 1960 and 1964, the four in-a-row Senior Football titles in the 2000’s. The club now has 7 All Ireland Club, 17 Munster Championships and 22 County Titles, in all over 100 adults’ championships have been won by the Club. He continued by talking about the club producing some of the greatest players of their respective generation, successful managers, referees, administrators and the members who with great foresight oversaw all the various progressive developments in the club such as that move to South Douglas Road and then to here in to our complex in Trabeg. He spoke about not standing still about the importance of keeping the club moving forward, about continuing to improve the facilities for the players and members and the that planning for the way forward the next step in that development has now got under way. |  | | Members of the underage witht he centenary gear | He then went on to talk about the programme of events for 2022 from the raising of the Centenary Mr Treacy spoke about the growth in membership since the move to Trabeg, in particular he talked about the rise in female participation in sport he talked about the success of cork ladies football and camogie teams generating an increase in Gaelic games and how Nemo Rangers has benefited from that. The continued growth of Ladies football and the re-emergence of Camogie in the Club and congratulated the Clubs first female to receive a Senior County Championship Medal as Part of the Seandun team that won the County Camogie Championship this year, Megan McCarthy O’Donovan.
He spoke about the ethos enshrined in the club that every underage player plays, that every member is valued, every member has a contribution to make, every member has their own Nemo story and importance of not forgetting about our past and using that as a catalyst to move forward. He concluded by thanking all for their attendance and then introduced An Taoiseach by talking about his contribution as a player and officer in the Club.
Prior to his address he was presented with a portrait of himself done by a former class mate of his Kieran O’Callaghan and a painting of the iconic view of Patricks hill by Club president Bernadette Allen. |  | | The Taoiseach being presented with a painting by Club president Bernadette Allen | The Taoiseach, during his address he first thanked Kieran for the portrait and the Club for their presentation. He talked about what Nemo meant to him, his stories of his getting involved, stories of journey to and from games, about togging off on the side of the road on Tramore Road or travelling to matches on public transport. He again returned to the theme of Nemo as a family, about the Club house in St. Patricks Road and the games room been a meeting point, the work that saw the development at South Douglas Road and then in Trabeg. The remarkable journey of the Club.
He concluded by saying he was looking forward to the events of 2022 and wished the Club, its members and the organising Committee well for the year ahead. | | | Taoiseach Micheal Martin, members of the underage, Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Mary Rose Desmond |
| Nemo Rangers Launches The Centenary Wall | | The Centenary wall that is to be erected as a permanent means to remembering members past and present, a project been over seen by Sean Hayes. |  |  | | Club president Bernadette Allen, Dinny Allen, Billy Morgan, Jimmy Kerrigan |
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