Morgan mindful of Munster ‘minefield’

THE statistics make for impressive reading.

Their 18th Cork senior football crown that ensures they are well clear at the top of the roll of honour and their 8th in 11 years which confirms their current hegemony on football in the county.

Yet Nemo Rangers are not content to settle for Sunday’s latest success and are determined to mount a strong assault for honours at provincial and national level.

During their golden run of success over the past decade, they have only managed to claim one All-Ireland crown and their Munster Club SFC semi-final exit to Drom-Broadford two years ago still rankles. Whoever emerges from Sunday week’s quarter-final tie between Clare champions Doonbeg and Waterford winners Stradbally, Nemo will be prepared for the challenge.

“Munster is a minefield now”, admits Nemo Rangers captain Briain Morgan. “The last time we got out of Cork, we lost to a Limerick team. So whoever we get from here on, we’ll have to be ready for. I think this team has unfinished business in Munster. We should learn from the Drom-Broadford defeat in 2008.

“We’ve a Munster championship to look forward to now and if we get out of that, we’ll take it from there. 2003 is the last time we won the All-Ireland. We got to three All-Irelands in-a-row after getting out of Cork and we only won one of them. It was sheer persistence that got us over the line in the end. Ephie’s team won four counties and just got to one All-Ireland final, when we lost to St Vincents by a point. But we’ve to forget about All-Ireland’s now and just concentrate on the Munster championship.”

Morgan made a critical intervention in Sunday’s decider against St Finbarr’s to turn the game in his side’s favour. St Finbarr’s were given renewed impetus when Robert O’Mahony thumped a shot to the net to leave just three points in it but when Jim O’Donoghue careered through, he found his attempt to tie up the game thwarted when Morgan tipped his shot around the post. Nemo Rangers settled the issue when Barry O’Driscoll raised a green flag at the other end yet Morgan downplayed the significance of his save.

“It was probably one of my better saves from a good shot. But I think we had more strength in character and we still should have had enough resilience to come back if that had gone in.”

The achievements of Nemo Rangers occupy a special status in the Morgan family, although his father Billy was marked absent on Sunday.

“He was golfing over in Loch Lomond on Friday and Saturday, it was something that was organised three or four months ago. He didn’t know when the final was going to be on, at that stage we were only in the quarter-finals. But he’ll be back to enjoy the celebrations anyway. We’re very happy now and we’ll definitely celebrate this one.”