O’Donovan hails Cronin influence on Nemo victory
THE foundation of Nemo Rangers’ victory was very much laid in the first-half when the Trabeg side hit 2-8 of their 2-10 total.
Nemo Rangers manager, Paul O’Donovan could well afford to be reasonally pleased after his side managed to regain a hold of the Andy Scannell Cup.
“We were fantastic in the first-half, even though we missed a couple of scores in the first ten minutes. I’m not sure when exactly we got the first goal, but we got two of them in very quick succession and that set us up really for the second-half.”
O’Donovan conceded Duhallow offered an improved performance on the turnover rather than any Nemo complacency.
“There were times there when we were kicking out the ball and they were flooding our end of the field so that was a bit hairy. We needed to get the ball out, to win a ball and then try and get up the field but we made poor choices.
“At times, we carried the ball into the tackle and we were in for goal chance near the end but took the wrong option. We’ll take a win, whether it was by one point or by twenty, it doesn’t matter, Nemo are happy to be going home with a county title,” said O’Donovan.
Importantly, Nemo never panicked, thankful to terrific saves from Michéal Martin and an excellent block by Stephen Cronin denied Duhallow.
“Micheál Martin’s two saves at the end were outstanding, just proving his class. But outside of those two saves, we pride ourselves on not giving away goal chances and we did defend very well, our blocking down was very good at times, Stephen is the best club centre-back in Cork.
“At the end, we had four Under 21s on the field at the end and three of them are Under 19, so that augurs well for the future. We won a minor three years ago, we won an Under 21 last year, so there’s plenty of talent coming through, there are plenty of old-stagers as well who are still hanging in there and playing well but it’s good to get the blend right, that’s the most important thing.”
TURNING POINT
Duhallow had settled to force parity by the close of the opening quarter only to be caught on the back-foot by the intensity and teamwork of Nemo, the latter rewarded on two goals in a 33 second spell that laid the platform for a deserved victory.
TALKING POINT
Not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, Nemo made hard work of clinching outright honours yet from a long way out, they appeared to had the contest wrapped up before a courageous Duhallow fightback came up short.
TOP MAN
Both ‘keepers Micheál Aodh Martin and Patrick Doyle deserve credit, called into action to make crucial stops. For his first half effort, Luke Connolly emerged as a revelation; his two goals ultimately provided the vital difference between the sides.
NEXT UP
Nemo return to familiar ground on a Munster campaign, their initial outing comes up against Limerick champions Newcastlewest at a Cork venue on Sunday, November 10. Maybe third time lucky for Duhallow in 2020, to come out of the divisional/colleges section, they will have to win three games.