Morgan: Crokes are a lot more than just Cooper

NEMO RANGERS will accord Colm Cooper the respect he deserves as, arguably, the leading forward in the country when they clash with Dr Crokes on Sunday week in the AIB Munster Club football championship decider in Limerick.

However, team captain Briain Morgan points out it won’t simply be a case of ‘targeting’ Cooper, more a matter of being prepared for the challenge Crokes pose as a unit.

And while they haven’t forgotten how Crokes dumped them out at the semi-final stage in 2006, he insists they won’t have any baggage going into the game.

Meanwhile, Morgan says he wasn’t surprised to see Crokes being pushed so hard by the Tipperary champions Aherlow in Cashel. “If you look at the teams in the competition — you saw it with Kilmacud and Garrycastle — they are representing their county and sometimes are probably better prepared than inter-county teams,’’ he commented.

“They are ‘the best of the best.’ You don’t have any easy game at this time of the year. Football in south Tipp is tough and uncompromising. I half knew Crokes were going to be ‘in a game’ up there!’’

Agreeing that Nemo ‘definitely’ have room for improvement, he felt there were periods in both halves of their game against Stradbally that they didn’t play to the standard they have shown themselves to be capable of – ‘defensively and going forward.’

“At half time we thought we were sloppy in our handling and in the tackle,’’ he added.

“But, at the end of the day, it was a great win for us. We won by seven points and if you asked us before the game we would have snapped your hand off for that!’’

He was sub keeper when Nemo lost to the Killarney side in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2006, a game involving nine of the team who saw action on Sunday.

“A lot of the players remember it.We had won in Cork, they had lost the Kerry final and we were favourites to win. But on the day the better team won. Obviously it’s an incentive for us now to come back and win the Munster title.

“Colm Cooper is one of the best forwards in Ireland, if not THE best, but they have a lot of other good players as well, fellows like Daithí Casey and Johnny Buckley. I know a few of them to see from when dad (Billy) was involved with UCC last year and I know Eoin Brosnan as well.

“ Obviously Colm Cooper is one of the major players, but you can’t just target him. You have to target the whole team.’’

Regretting the injury to Barry O’Driscoll, he is glad to see James Masters returning to fitness after his injury lay-off. “When James is firing on all cylinders he is one of the best forwards in the country,’’ he said.