‘Tucker’ aiming to steer Nemo back to top of ladder

IN this year’s Cork SFC final match programme, Nemo Rangers wing-back Colin O’Brien was the subject of a player profile.

For the question regarding whether he had a nickname, O’Brien pointed out that so many people knew him as “Tucker”. It was as if his given name had been forgotten.

Like so many nicknames, it came about in an unconventional manner, as he explains. “When he was younger, my father played with Coventry City for five or six years. The first time he broke into the team he replaced a player whose nickname was “Tucker” so then the name stuck to him.

“After he came back, I’d be known as “Young Tucker” and gradually it’s just become “Tucker”. Nowadays, people whom I’d have never even met before would call me it. But I don’t mind what I’m called once I’m doing well!”

There can be little doubting he has done well this year, a model of consistency in the no 5 jersey, culminating in his winning of the man of the match award in the county final defeat of neighbours St Finbarr’s.

Such an outcome was not something that materialised randomly. “When Eddie [Kirwan] came in as manager at the start of the year, at one of the first sessions he brought Kevin Clancy in as a facilitator,” O’Brien says. “He had played with the club and was involved in sports psychology and he asked each player what their goals were. It wasn’t something I’d ever really given thought to, but this year I set a number of targets and thankfully I’ve managed to reach them.

“To be named man of the match in the county final was a great honour, especially as I wasn’t really expecting it. The game passed so quickly you wouldn’t even be thinking of something like that. Now I’m just hoping to continue that form.”

Nemo’s next test is on Sunday when they face Kerry champions Dr Crokes in the Munster Club SFC final at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. And O’Brien is under no illusions about the size of the task.

“They’ll be the toughest opposition that we’ve had to date,” he says. “They’ve a number of intercounty players and have massive experience. The brand of football they play is similar enough to ours, they move the ball quickly and obviously the forward line is very strong.”

That is something Nemo do not need to be reminded about, having been beaten at the provincial semi-final stage by the Killarney club in 2006.

“It’s definitely still in our minds,” O’Brien says. “I was only making my way onto the team then, I came on in that game, but I can remember the other, more experienced fellas in the dressing room afterwards, they were dejected. We owe them one, especially as it was in Páirc Uí Chaoimh they beat us.”

That loss, as well as defeats to Antrim’s St Gall’s, St Vincent’s of Dublin and Dromcollogher-Broadford (Limerick) are part of a disappointing Nemo catalogue outside of Cork in recent times.

Not having won an All-Ireland since 2002/03, O’Brien makes no bones about wanting to end that wait. “Domestically we’ve done well,” he says. “But we haven’t done ourselves justice in the Munster or All-Ireland series. With the history the club has, that’s disappointing. It’s not until you win an All-Ireland that you can call yourselves the best in the country. That’s something we’re trying to prove this year.”