Nemo serve notice as Masters turns on the style

CORK’s senior football championships got into full swing over the weekend with seven games played, the scoring honours going to Nemo Rangers who gave Ilen Rovers a 3-20 to 1-11 drubbing in Clonakilty.

The silken skills of Nemo were exhibited to the full as the champions rode roughshod over their opponents.

From the moment Alan Cronin gave them the lead with a fisted point in the opening attack, Nemo never rested and, serving up a five-star display, totally devastated their west Cork opponents.

This was Nemo at their superb best with Cork star James Masters kicking 1-10 and only three points from frees, to serve notice they will be the team to beat again this year.

Scorers for Nemo Rangers: J Masters 1-10 (0-3 from frees); D Mehigan 1-0 (1-0 from penalty); M Cronin 1-0; A Cronin 0-5 (0-1 from free); S O’Brien 0-3; P Kerrigan 0-2.

Ilen Rovers: S Casey 1-1; K O’Sullivan 0-6 (0-1 from free); C O’Driscoll 0-3; J Wycherley 0-1.

Castlehaven staged a remarkable comeback to snatch a 1-12 to 1-11 victory over Douglas in an exhilarating first-round clash at Clonakilty yesterday.

A point in injury time from substitute Daniel Hegarty proved to be the match winner for Castlehaven, who looked like being wiped off the face of the earth in the opening sequences when trailing 1-7 to 0-5 at the break, Eoin Cadogan scoring a cracking Douglas goal.

Scorers for Castlehaven: C Crowley 1-4; S Cahalane 0-6 (0-3 from frees); D Hurley and D Hegarty 0-1 each.

Douglas: E Cadogan 1-0; S McCarthy 0-4 (0-3 from frees); J Farrell 0-2; B Fitzgerald, M Harrington, C Dineen, T Sheehan and F O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

After a compelling hour’s football in Inchigeela yesterday, Naomh Abán and Bantry Blues will have to meet again after drawing 1-9 to 0-12 in this opening round game.

After a blistering start that gave the Ballyvourney men a five-point cushion inside the opening 10 minutes, they were still forced to rescue this exciting tussle with a Micheál Ó Cróinín free one minute from the end of normal time.

Bantry, with Graham Canty lining out at centre-back and Damien O’Neill at full-forward, were slow to settle and they were further set back when Donncha Ó Cróinín found the net.

Scorers for Naomh Abán: D Ó Cróinín 1-1, M Ó Cróinín 0-3 (0-2 frees), D Ó Suilleabháin, A Ó Cróinín, J Quill, A Lynch and J McCarthy 0-1 each.

Bantry Blues: D Barron 0-5 (0-1 free), D O’Neill 0-4, N Canty, G Canty and P Clifford 0-1 each.

Never-say-die Clonakilty had to dig deep to prevent Ballincollig fashioning a sweet first -round victory in Bandon on Saturday.

Four points down with 10 minutes remaining, following a goal by the alert John Miskella, Clon looked in big trouble.

But their response was dynamic, years of hard championship graft manifesting itself as they whittled back Ballincollig’s lead to draw 1-8 to 0-11 and earn a replay which they richly deserved.

Scorers for Ballincollig; J Miskella 1-0, P O’Mahony 0-3 (frees), A Donovan and L O’Toole 0-2 each, J Kelly 0-1 (free).

Clonakilty: C Callanan 0-5 (0-3 frees), D Murphy, P Griffin 0-2 each, M O’Brien (free), B Walsh 0-1 each.

Confident football from St Nicholas in the second opening-round game in Bandon on Saturday saw wasteful Carbery Rangers blown away 3-10 to 2-9 and facing a tricky battle against the losers of the Na Piarsaigh and O’Donovan Rossa clash to stay alive.

Some terrific defensive play by Donal Óg O’Donovan, Niall Horgan and Shane Kennefick, non-stop running by Robert Brosnan and Paul O’Brien at midfield and strong aggressive play from Graham Callinan, John Kearney and David Brosnan up front had the Ross men all at sea.

But Carbery Rangers will look to 14 wides over the hour as a big excuse for their downfall.

Scorers for St Nicholas: P O’Brien 1-2, J Kearney 0-5 (frees), G Moylan and D Brosnan 1-0 each, R Brosnan 0-2 (0-1 free), G Callinan 0-1.

Carbery Rangers: S Hayes 1-2, M Moore 1-1, J Hayes 0-5 (0-1 free), J Murphy (free) 0-1.

Béara were impressive first-round victors over Imokilly at Macroom on Saturday, winning 1-17 to 0-8

It was Béara’s most polished performance since last winning the cup in 1997 and an outclassed and over-run Imokilly side had no answer to the power and panache of the men from the peninsula in a very one-sided contest.

Béara scorers: D O’Sullivan 1-0; B J O’Sullivan 0-6; K J O’Sullivan 0-5 (0-3 from frees); J Goggin 0-2; E Wiseman, D Wiseman, A O’Sullivan and K O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Imokilly: D Wallace 0-3 (0-2 from frees; 0-1 from 45); P Cahill 0-2; B O’Tuama, C O’Reilly and B Hartnett 0-1 each.

Carbery lived dangerously before recording a merited 0-16 to 1-11 victory over UCC at Brinny last evening.

Workmanlike but effective, Carbery’s lively set of forwards, albeit aided by some loose college defending, ran up 16 points and should have had a half a dozen more if they had possessed a free-taker.

While attempting to close the game out in the last quarter, they missed several eminently scoreable frees and at the death they might have paid dearly if the UCC attack had contained a few more forwards of the calibre of Chris Daly and Mike O’Donoghue, who kept them in the game throughout.

Scorers for Carbery: C Keane 0-5 (0-1 free); C O’Driscoll 0-4 (0-1 free); R O’Mahony, M O’Driscoll 0-2 each; T Twomey, J Clancy 0-1 each.

UCC: C Daly 1-2; M O’Donoghue 0-4; F Goold 0-2 (0-1 free); P Corrigan, K Mulvihill, J Gould 0-1 each.