Favourites Nemo expecting major battle, says Fitzgerald
Cork club Nemo Rangers are looking for a 14th provincial title on Sunday against Ballinacourty of Waterford, and team manager Ephie Fitzgerald has plenty on his plate, but he’s happy the injury list is a short one.
“Alan Morgan is out, he has a knee injury, but other than that we’re grand in terms of knocks. Sean O’Brien is away at the moment, and David Niblock has gone to the States.
“Peter Morgan has come in instead of him and done well, so there’re no complaints in that regard.”
This year Nemo have cast the net within the club to strengthen their panel. Is Fitzgerald happy with the resultant crop of players?
“Absolutely. That’s probably what’s set us apart this season. The first day against Clonakilty in the county championship, for example, we were short seven or eight guys but we were still able to go out and draw the game.
“Also, if you look at our matches we’ve nearly always used the full five subs, we feel the panellists are as good as what we have on the field.”
They may need all their resources against Ballinacourty. The Waterford county champions come to Killarney trailing the scalp of Kerry’s Kilcummin from the semi-final, and Fitzgerald is fully aware of the threat they pose.
“They’re huge men with a big, strong physical presence. They’re going to be up for the game and they’ll also be confident after beating Kilcummin down in Killarney, obviously.
“We’re in for a battle, but we know that, Waterford club football is very strong. Look at The Nire last year — if they’d had a bit of luck they could have beaten Dr Crokes, who gave us a good hiding, so we won’t be one bit complacent on Sunday, we’re expecting a major battle.
“I wasn’t surprised they made it to the final. Kilcummin hadn’t won the county championship in Kerry, after all; in the Kerry system they were the last club side left standing.
“But having said that, there’s no such thing as a bad Kerry senior team, and Ballinacourty beat them in their own backyard.”
Fitzgerald also sees a tangible return on the scoresheet from Ballinacourty’s direct approach.
“They’re able to get goals, which is a major strength. All year we conceded one goal in the county championship, but we’ve conceded four in our last two games, so we’re conscious of that. The Hurneys are very good players, so is Shane Briggs.
“We’ve played the Waterford senior footballers quite a lot in challenge games, so we’d be familiar enough with a lot of them. We know we’re in for a battle. Teams generally raise their game when they’re playing Nemo, but we’ll raise it too. It’s the last game of the year and we set our target at the start of the year, to have a crack at the All-Ireland club, though we’re not looking beyond next Sunday.”
The fact that the game is in the Kingdom isn’t a factor for Nemo, says Fitzgerald.
“I don’t know if they wanted to toss for venue or what, but the Tipp venues are closed, for instance, and Killarney was supposedly in great nick for the intermediate final last week. We’re happy to go there.
“I don’t think we’ll have anyone on the field Sunday who hasn’t played there.”
Nor will there be anyone in green and black who’s not used to being favourites. For Nemo that just comes with the territory.
“We seem to be made favourites for every game,” says Fitzgerald, “I’m sure the odds for next year’s county championship in Cork will probably have us at 6-4 or 2-1 on. But the ball won’t know on Sunday who the favourite is.
“Ballinacourty are in their first final, and that’s going to be a huge motivation for them, they’re representing their county and their parish, they have it all to play for. We have to be at the same level as them in terms of attitude and commitment, and hopefully, if we are, the football side will take care of itself.
“People said to me when we won the Munster club championship two years ago that we were subdued in our celebrations, but that’s just the way we are. People can see that as arrogance, but we were brought up to show the right attitude — in victory more so than defeat, to respect the opposition.”
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