The 2000 Nemo Rangers Senior Football team will be presented to the crowd at half time of the Premier Senior Football Final
Stylish Nemo again crowned real kings of Cork football
Nemo Rangers 1-14 Carbery 0-7
The 2000 Nemo Rangers Senior Football team will be presented to the crowd at half time of the McCarthy Insurance Premier Senior Football Championship Final in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday.
Nemo were crowned champions after defeating Carbery on a scoreline of Nemo Rangers 1-14 Carbery 0-7.
Front row: Brian Morgan, Kevin O'Reilly, John Paul O'Neill, Niall Geary, Martin Cronin, Larry Kavanagh, Alan Cronin, Declan Creedon, Stephen O'Brien, Don Heaphy, Kieran Connolly, William Morgan, Paul Brophy, Colin McCarthy, Eddie O'Leary, James Masters, Mark Cotter
Micheál Clifford's article in the Evening Echo after the game.
A SEVEN-YEAR itch has rarely been scratched with such vigour.
Nemo Rangers, without a county title since 1993, are football champions of Cork once again, after the most comfortable of wins over Carbery in yesterday’s very one-sided decider.
Indeed, instead of a match, the crowd of around 6,000 were treated to an exhibition as Nemo ran rings around a disjointed and disorganised Carbery team that simply did not come near to doing themselves justice yesterday.
As a result, there was almost a surreal feel to the match itself, as Nemo had already one foot over the winning line before Carbery raised their first point of the afternoon... in the 29th minute.
Okay, it could be argued that having played against a strong wind and having notched two late points in the first-half to bring it to 0-9 to 0-2 at the interval, that Carbery still had a half of a chance.
If that was the case, then it was only a faint one.
Carbery’s first mistake was to believe that they could take on Nemo at their own game, and while it may have been to counteract the strong third, their decision to try and funnel the ball in short movements up the field proved disastrous.
As did their decision to yield a two man full-forward line, giving Pat Hegarty and Jason Whooley a free reign. As it was, Carbery merely turned the screw on themselves.
The warning signs of the folly of such a tactic was there to be seen as early as the 6th minute when Niall Geary, the Nemo full-back, whipped over the opening score of the game.
More significantly, Carbery’s ambitions with their short game never went beyond retaining the ball, something they repeatedly failed to do.
In contrast, Nemo mixed long and short, and when they played the lat- ter, they did so with the purpose of taking a Carbery defender out and opening up gaps in the losers' defence at will.
Their goal in the 42nd minute summed up this quality perfectly.
After a series of short passes, each one's completion greeted with a soccer-like roar of approval from the Nemo kids in the open stand, Stephen O'Brien slipped the ball to Colin Corkery, who turned 40 metres from goal and knocked in a wonderful ball which was punched to the net by Alan Cronin.
This was a football played with a purpose and played at a level that Carbery never looked like reaching.
Of course, by the time that Cronin punched in that goal the game was long over.
Wind at their back, Nemo always had the weapons to do serious damage.
Corkery, as he did in Killarney, started with a couple of wides, but great players never lack courage and although he kicked seven wides by the game’s end, he had also notched five points.
Joe Kavanagh was composed every time he laid hand on leather and he had a great battle with county teammate Owen Sexton on the 40.
But the star of the show was Alan Cronin, who finished the game with 1-4, after producing a display full of initiative, enthusiasm and trickery that summed up Nemo’s supremacy on the day.
But this win was founded on the industry that Billy Morgan's side exhibited through out the field, particularly in de fence where Geary, O'Brien and Martin Cronin had huge games, whilst Derek Kavanagh and Kevin Cahill gripped control in the middle of the field from an early stage.
In contrast, only the lion-hearted Sexton and a late flurry from Kieran Daly offered Carbery comfort.
Whether they can go on and win the Munster title remains to be seen, yet they suggested yesterday that they are capable of passing stiffer tests than Carbery.
They will have to.
NEMO RANGERS: D. Heaphy, L Kavanagh, N. Geary, D. Creedon; K. Connolly, Stephen O'Brien, Μ. Cronin; K. Cahill, D. Kavanagh; Sean O'Brien, J. Kavanagh, D. Niblock: W. Morgan, C. Corkery, A. Cronin.
Sub: N. Corkery for Morgan.
CARBERY: P. Prendergast: J. Sheehy, D. Duggan, E. Murphy; K. Daly, E. Sexton, S. Levis; M. Cronin, F. Collins: J. O'Connell, J. O'Sulli van, B. O'Sullivan: J. Whooley, P. Hegarty, T. Deasy.
Subs: M. O'Sullivan for Cronin; P. Connelly for Deasy; A. Quinn for O'Connell; J. Cullinane for Whooley.
Nemo scorers: A. Cronin (1-4), C. Corkery (0-5, 0-2 frees, 0-1 '45), J. Kavanagh (0-2), N. Geary, M. Cronin and D. Niblock (0-1 each). Carbery scorers: K. Daly (0-2), О. Sexton, J. O'Sullivan and P. Connelly (0-1 each), B. O'Sullivan and F. Collins (0-1 free each).
Referee: J. Geaney (Kilshannig).
