Patrick Kelly: Are Nemo most vulnerable west of the Viaduct?

Two of the three current giants of Cork football enter the knockout phase this weekend full of confidence

Fri, 22 Sep, 2023 - 06:59

This weekend West Cork is the place to be as two of the three current giants of Cork football, Nemo Rangers and Castlehaven, enter the knockout phase full of confidence.

Facing them are the two best placed teams to make the leap and join that elite group of three (including semi-finalists St Finbarr's) in Clonakilty and Ballincollig. After the completion of four years of the group stages the points return of Nemo, Castlehaven and St Finbarr's leaves you in no doubt as to the pecking order in Cork football in recent years.

Starting in Bandon on Saturday, the big question is how Clonakilty will face up against a potent Nemo attack. In round two they mirrored Carbery Rangers’ defensive approach resulting in a dour low-scoring affair, while in Charlie Hurley Park two weeks ago they impressed when going toe to toe with Castlehaven in a thrilling encounter.

Clonakilty have the man-marking capabilities to match up well against the likes of Luke Connolly, Mark Cronin and Paul Kerrigan, they have a midfield that will hold their own, while up front they showed they have the capability to rack up scores against a top tier team. Darragh Gough was outstanding and was ably assisted by Ross Mannix, Conor Daly and Johnny Leahy with plenty of excellent forward interplay and scores from play.

Nemo, on the other hand, have yet to encounter a stiff challenge. They coasted through their group barring a late blip against Éire Óg. There is a theory out there that Nemo are at their most vulnerable when they travel west of the Viaduct, although I’m not convinced the stats back that up. Having attended two of their group games their individual brilliance is well heralded, but their defensive structure is outstanding too. The most interesting thing to watch from an outside perspective is who from their array of young forwards is ready to make the step up, with Ross Corkery looking the most likely.

On Sunday in Enniskeane, Ballincollig make the trip west buoyed by a well-deserved victory over neighbours Éire Óg in a must-win game two weeks ago. From a Ballincollig point of view, this is a challenge to relish. Not since Nemo in the semi-final in 2016 have Ballincollig knocked out one of the big three. To end that run they must get their match-ups spot on, a task made all the more difficult given the injuries to key defenders in recent matches. In Brian and Michael Hurley and Jack Cahalane they face a trio of forwards as good as there is in Cork football.

On top of that the repositioning of Mark Collins to wing back poses an additional conundrum for Ballincollig of whether to assign a dedicated marker to curb his influence.

Castlehaven will know that Ballincollig too possess enough attacking talent of their own to cause them problems. Cian Dorgan’s finishing prowess, along with the explosive power and pace of Australian Rules-bound Liam O’Connell, will certainly occupy Castlehaven’s main two markers, Damien Cahalane and Rory Maguire. Cian Kiely will require similar minding to Mark Collins while Ballincollig will hope under-20 players Harry Ahearne and Sean Dore continue to inspire around the middle third.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this weekend’s quarter finals will be the man-marking challenges facing the likes of Colin Moore, Rory Maguire, Kevin O’Donovan and Tom Clancy.

Despite the likelihood that most defences will operate with a plus one, the concentration required will be absolute to limit the damage of the marquee forwards on show. As well as dealing with the pace, power and skill, the mental focus is draining as blocks and body checks are to be evaded. The personal pride and responsibility of being given the key man-marking jobs is enormous. Not every club player has the attributes to quieten a Luke Connolly or a Brian Hurley.

This was perfectly illustrated by Hurley’s goal against Clonakilty. After a poor turnover Tom Clancy, who had been marking Hurley, found himself instead operating as the plus one as another Clonakilty defender tracked Hurley. It only took a split-second for Hurley to check back inside to create and bury the goal chance. The selfishness and confidence required to demand that you alone are responsible for the dangerman is something that set the likes of Anthony Lynch and Michael Shields apart as man-markers.

Tonight, before those mouth-watering quarter-finals, Douglas and St Michael's will battle it out in a group playoff to face Duhallow in the third and final quarter-final next weekend. This is well and truly bonus territory for St Michael's whose target going into the final group game was to avoid a relegation final. Douglas, on the other hand, having lost two games on the trot, suddenly see a path to the semi-final opening up ahead of them. While their hurlers got the short straw last weekend, drawing Imokily, it is fair to say that Duhallow would be the preferred choice over facing the group winners in football. With both clubs eliminated from hurling last weekend, the winner of tonight’s game will really fancy their chances of making a semi-final.

I expect both quarter-finals to be close affairs and I’d give both underdogs a great chance of causing a surprise. For the good of Cork football, we need the gap between the big three and the rest to close, this weekend is a great litmus test of that.