Morgan: Nemo duo are Rebel ready
Murphy spearheaded a right-wing assault with Alan Cronin against Errigal Chiarain on Sunday as Nemo booked a place in their third successive All-Ireland club final.
It was the latest assured display from 27-year-old Murphy, who has scarcely put a foot wrong throughout Nemo’s Cork and Munster campaigns.
Corner back O’Brien again held his opponent Rory McCann scoreless and their coach believes the pair are capable of increasing Nemo’s Cork contingent to eight.
“I think Gary and Sean should be on the Cork panel,” Morgan reckoned. “Gary’s been the most consistent half back in Cork county over the last couple of years while Sean has played minor and three years with the Cork U21s and is a very tight corner back who could do a really good job for Cork.”
With young corner forward William Morgan also contributing handsomely in both halves, Morgan is pleased that the responsibilities are being shared out among the starting 15 and an increasingly powerful substitutes’ bench ahead of their March 17 All-Ireland final date with Crossmolina.
Morgan sets up his side for each individual game and will be aware that man-of-the-match Steven O’Brien will not be given the same latitude against the Connacht champions on Croke Park’s wide open spaces as he had in Portlaoise on Sunday.
O’Brien led by example against Mickey Harte’s side and was especially pleased to play his first competitive 60 minutes since late last year. He too has seen the progress made by the younger members of the side.
“Usually I last until 15 minutes from the end because we have a bunch of young fellas champing at the bit who are well capable of playing at this grade,” he said.
Selector Denny Allen dismissed the popular myth that this Nemo side is fighting a losing battle against Father Time.
“If you take Steven and Larry (Kavanagh) out of the equation the average age of our panel is around 24.
“The younger lads have refreshed the whole setup,” agreed captain Colin Corkery, who revealed that had Nemo won the toss they also had decided to play with the wind.
“We lost the toss, but those things can work either way. We just happened to play very well against the wind in the first half.
“I was moving out the field in the first half, which meant that Steven O’Brien was moving off centre forward to the wings, where he was able to read the game and pick up a world of breaks.
“Errigal certainly were getting a lot of publicity last week but on the day I think we were more determined to get to the final,” Corkery added.
Meanwhile, Errigal club chairman Cahal McAnenly has commenced the search for Mickey Harte’s replacement. Harte, the Tyrone manager, stepped down from his position after Sunday’s defeat so as to concentrate on intercounty affairs. For now, Errigal are attempting to overcome the disappointment of the weekend loss according to McAnenly.
“Expectations were high and the boys had trained well,” said McAnenly. “But on the day we were beaten by a better team and you have to take your hat off and acknowledge that. I wish Nemo Rangers good luck in the final. We have the highest of admiration and pride in our own players, they put in a great effort out on the pitch, but on a few occasions the ball just didn’t break for them.”
McAnenly paid tribute to the all-round power and ability of an exceptional Nemo side for their overall showing at O’Moore Park.
“It’s not often that you have both strength and mobility combined, and they had both. They are big men, but a very fast, mobile and skilful team.
“And they have vast experience. That’s their third All-Ireland semi-final in a row and they’re in their third final in a row. The disappointments of the past two years was no doubt driving them on.
“But we were beaten by a better team on the day and we can have no complaints,” he said.
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