Nemo celebrate magic 50

NEMO RANGERS, the most successful club in the history of the AIB championship with a record seven All-Ireland titles, will tonight hold a celebration in their clubhouse to mark the winning of their first adult title 50 years ago.

Having been amalgamated in 1946, they won the Cork County Junior Football Championship in 1957, defeating Mitchelstown. The same year they were minor champions, being awarded the title after beating Fermoy in the semi-final, with Beara and Kanturk disqualified after meeting in the other semi-final. The winning junior team, which included ten players under the age of 21 (the youngest being 17 year-old Jerry Allen) was: M. Downey; F. Lee, A. O’Keeffe, J. Cronin; D. Barry, B. Murphy (RIP), N. Power; D. McDonnell, P. O’Keeffe; V. Barrett, J. O’Mahony, O. O’Brien (RIP); G. Allen, J. McCarthy, G. Allen. The team was captained by Bernie Murphy, while the then club secretary Mick Barrett who was prominently associated in later years with the City Division Board, was a selector with both teams. Nemo had to wait until 1970 (when they lost to Muskerry) to contest their first senior county final and they made the breakthrough two years later, beating a UCC team which featured Moss Keane at full-back.