Latest Nemo generation ready to assume mantle

NEMO RANGERS had lost two All-Ireland Club finals in-a-row and fear of losing a third was uppermost in their minds as timed ticked away against Crossmolina in the 2004 decider.

With the sides locked together, Nemo won a line ball 65 metres out, and was definitely that bit too far even for a player of Colin Corkery's calibre.

"Try and work the ball a bit closer", was the instruction from team coach Billy Morgan.

"Maurice McCarthy came for the short pass and I found myself on the 45 when returned the ball," recalls Colin.

"The ball took ages to come down.

"But the moment it left my foot I knew it was going over the bar", commented Corkery who wrote himself and his club into the history books with that glorious match-winning point.

Little has changed since St. Patrick's Day 2004. Nemo are back on the All-Ireland glory trail again, but without the two players who engineered that winning point.

Corkery has retired and injury has ruled Maurice McCarthy out, but there is a new breed of Nemo player on the prowl, looking to emulate the feats of their predecessors.

"The desire to be the best has been the driving force behind Nemo," said Corkery. "Football is a religion with the players, and they are prepared to make the sacrifices to help the club succeed.

"In this modern era it would be far easier for young players to be out on the town and doing their own thing, but we are very fortunate in Nemo that all our players, young and not so young, want to be part of the success story.

"Tradition also plays a big part. The club is the most successful in the country at this level and when you consider that the majority of the team for Sunday have never played in an All-Ireland semi-final before, it speaks volumes for the talent there is in the club.

"Credit to team coach Ephie Fitzgerald and his selectors for giving youth its chance. In his first year in charge Nemo failed in the Cork championship to Clonakilty, but Ephie persisted with his youth policy and it has paid off.

"Nemo have moved on to a new era in every sense of the word. Our new location with all its modern facilities must be a spur to the present day players to carry on the great tradition. and take the club onto another level.

"There is one thing the club has never done, however, and it's to take things for granted. Players have great confidence in their own ability, but we take one game at a time and plan for it accordingly.

"It has been like that for Sunday's semi-final. Getting quality games in preparation hasn't been easy since we won the Munster title before Christmas. Fortunately we had the county league to fall back on which we won last week."

In Sunday's semi-final, Nemo play a team similar to themselves. They have won the Antrim senior title for the last five years, as well as six U21s in-a-row and four of the last six county minor titles. With 10 of their players on the county squad, they will be formidable opponents for the Munster champions.

St Galls won a great Ulster title, defeating teams of the calibre of Carrigmore (Tyrone), Mayobridge (Down) and Bellaghy (Derry) while Nemo experienced little difficulty on their way to tomorrow's game, Aghada providing the hardest match in the county semi-final.

"I spoke with Armagh's Stephen McDonnell recently and he was telling me Galls are a very formidable outfit," said Corkery. "They are a big physical team and play the possession game like ourselves.

"It's a strange time in the club championship because teams who are involved in the last four don't have any competitive matches. In the last few weeks you are basically trying to keep the players ticking over and hoping everything goes right on the day."

Any team losing a player of the calibre of Maurice McCarthy (struggling with a knee injury) would be in big trouble, but Nemo are the exception.

Derek Kavanagh is back from Australia and going as well as ever and is a likely replacement, but Dylan Mehigan is also in the frame.

St Galls will include the McGourty brothers, Ciaran and Kevin, who starred with Queens in the Sigerson Cup in midweek, Sean Kelly, Colin Brady, Mal Ward and Mark McCrory, all on the Antrim team.