Carbery boss O’Driscoll wary of backlash from mighty Nemo

THERE may be a strong tide of favouritism starting to weigh in behind Carbery’s county senior football aspirations, but coach Gene O’Driscoll is loathe to jump on that bandwagon yet.

Tonight, they go toe to toe with Nemo Rangers in Bandon at 7.30pm for a mouth-watering and defining quarter-final clash, and the city team, chasing a fabled five-in-a-row this year, enter the game amidst the backdrop of a run of below-par form. Yet O’Driscoll suggests it would be wise to look at the events of last Monday in Croke Park, where pre-match notions surrounding the demise of a football power were ultimately shredded.

“People can say what they want about Nemo not going well this year. But the fact of the matter is that you only have to see they’re in the exact same situation as Kerry were going into the Dublin match on Monday. And we all know what happened there. Nemo are exactly the same kind of team that you can’t write off. They’re the barometer for every side in Cork and have huge talent. It’s not hard to get yourself up for a match against them and I think this could be a great game.”

Unusually for a divisional side, Carbery enter this match on the back of serious training throughout this year. With a plethora of inter-county stars at their disposal, there has been huge energies focused into their preparation.

“We did a lot of work at the outset of the year to get ourselves ready,” remarks O’Driscoll. “Bantry coming down from senior lifted our profile, with Graham Canty and Kevin Harrington available to us. We’ve kept ourselves ticking over with a lot of challenge matches and the board have given us everything we’ve looked for. Guys are very eager and we’ve great experience in the likes of Sean Levis and Owen Sexton. We’d an excellent win over a very good St Nick’s side and that’s given us a lot of confidence. This is a 50-50 game but they’re the sort of team that you want to measure yourself against.”

The match is loaded with potential and there should be a huge crowd gathered in expectation. Nemo have yet to regain their top form this season, but have plenty strength and big game know-how. They’ll need Paul Kerrigan and James Masters to catch fire up front, but Carbery will be acutely aware of their threat. Alan O’Connor and Cathrach Keane form an imposing Carbery midfield pairing that Nemo will need to break even with. But if Carbery gain a foothold here and service attackers Hugh Curran, Tadhg Twomey and Colm O’Driscoll, then they’ll be perfectly poised to set up a semi-final showdown with St Finbarr’s.

Meanwhile in the quarter-final of the Evening Echo Cork PIHC, Douglas face Watergrasshill in Midleton. Watergrasshill have reinvented themselves brilliantly following an opening round defeat against Argideen Rangers, and have quality in Paddy O’Regan and Sean O’Leary. But Douglas, backed by Eoin Cadogan, Alan Barry, Mark Collins and Stephen Moylan are intent on making progress and they get the vote to advance to a semi-final tussle with Ballincollig.