Corker of a party after Nemo find their way to 16th crown
NEMO RANGERS were crowned senior football champions of Munster for the 16th time in their history when they dethroned holders Dr Crokes on a 0-16 to 0-11 scoreline at Páirc Uí Rinn. The Cork champions bridged a sevenyear gap to their last provincial success and were pushed all the way by the Kerry kingpins, with Luke Connolly’s accuracy from frees crucial. Once the celebrations wind down, Nemo attentions will turn to the All-Ireland crown they last won in 2003.
NEMO Rangers manager Larry Kavanagh may have felt that a dominant first half should have yielded more scores, but the Cork side never really looked like being denied a 16th Munster SFC title yesterday.
Leading by 0-9 to 0-5 at halftime, Nemo should have had a goal on more than one occasion, with Dr Crokes goalkeeper Shane Murphy making two great saves from Luke Connolly — who finished with 10 points — while Crokes’ corner-back John Payne got in some vital blocks.
‘I thought in the first half we were as good as we have been at any stage or for any Nemo team,’ said Kavanagh.
‘We gave them that challenge, we thought, not that Crokes were there for the taking, but if we could go at them we’d get goals.
‘The fact we hadn’t got goals at half-time worried us but we felt if we could match them score by score we’d still be four points up. We gave them a target to try and beat them in the second half, the usual carry-on, and they did in fairness to them.’
As early as the fifth minute, a superb Payne block denied Barry O’Driscoll, while on 11 minutes, with Crokes 0-3 to 0-2 in front, the corner-back halted Paul Kerrigan’s progress.
From the 45 which resulted though, Connolly levelled before Kerrigan, Paddy Gumley and full-back Aidan O’Reilly all scored as they amassed an 0-8 to 0-3 lead. But for two excellent Murphy saves, Connolly would have added a sheen to the Nemo advantage with a goal.
However, while Colm Cooper and Brian Looney had points to end the Crokes drought, Connolly’s sixth ensured that Nemo were four ahead at the interval. Gumley was on target within 20 seconds of the restart and Connolly put six points between the teams, but once more Crokes came back strongly. Two from Daithí Casey and one each by Looney and Cooper brought them back to within two, 0-11 to 0-9, but Cooper and Casey shot wide from frees and Nemo were able to steady themselves and push on again. When Kerrigan’s strong run drew a free, Connolly tapped over and he then scored from play after being set up by midfielder Alan O’Donovan. Brothers Alan and Stephen Cronin then combined to give Kerrigan a chance of a goal and although his shot hit the crossbar, it went over to open up a five-point advantage. Casey pulled one back for Crokes but they suffered a blow when Kieran O’Leary was sent off for two bookings which were shown to him in rapid succession.
After Connolly’s 10th, Crokes sub Jordan Kiely pointed to make it 0-15 to 0-11 and they might have had a goal but Micheál Martin saved well to deny Tony Brosnan. At the other end, Nemo sub Conor Horgan was on hand to ensure that his side took the honours.
‘We were on the flip-side of it two years ago,’ he said, ‘waking up and saying: “How did we lose that?”.
‘This will seep in now over the next couple of weeks and it gives you something to aim for next year. We hadn’t looked at the All-Ireland, seven years without Munster is a long time so we hadn’t looked beyond that.
‘It’s 2003 since we won an All-Ireland but it’s on dark days like this you risk being caught, so I’m just delighted we got over the line,’ added Horgan.