Kavanagh preaching caution
Yet this afternoon in the Gaelic Grounds, they will enter unchartered territory when they go toe to toe with Roscommon champions St Brigid’s. Still the Nemo Rangers players have individual experiences to draw on when it comes to informing themselves about their opponent’s capabilities.
“I marked Karol Mannion only last August in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park”, recalls Nemo Rangers full-back Derek Kavanagh. “He is a fine player. Then I remember when we lost to Roscommon up there in the qualifiers a good few years ago with Cork in 2003, Frankie Dolan would have been involved with them then. He’s a nice little player. I watched him on video the other day and he’s cute and clever. His passing is good and everything seems to go through him, he’ll be their playmaker.”
Paul Kerrigan also lined out for Cork that day in Croke Park last August. When Nemo Rangers defeated Dr Crokes in the provincial final last month, he rummaged through his collection of match programmes at home for information on that Roscommon team.
“I was looking at the Cork-Roscommon match programme at home and I saw that they had three or four on that panel. I looked at them on tape in the Killererin match during the week and they’re physical. They really put pressure on teams around the middle eight. There’s very little distinction between their half-back line and half-forward line, they all go forward and back together. Breaks will be vital as they have a specific style.
“Against Killererin they were four points down going into injury time and dispossessed a fella in the middle to get a goal and then got a point. That’s what they’re all about, turnovers around the middle. They’ve done everything bar get to a final so they’re a seasoned team, not a once-in-a-blue-moon team, I don’t think the big occasion will affect them at all.”
One aspect of the team’s preparations that weighs in favour of Nemo is the proximity to their provincial final success last month. They will seek to feed off the positive vibes that emanated from their sensational football in the first-half that day. Although their ineffective second-half play the same day has been something to consider.
“Some will say we took our foot off the pedal but they were reckoned to be the best team to come out of Kerry in 20 years”, remarks manager Eddie Kirwin. “They’d run roughshod over divisions and everything in Kerry. Good teams like them will always have their time in games. You can’t sustain a performance over 60 minutes. We were still very happy afterwards but it has given us something to address.”
“We weren’t that bad in the second-half”, argues Kerrigan. “We won 10 kickouts in the second-half and they won nine, which is fairly good going. When we won the ball around the middle we couldn’t get it up to our forwards. That came from pressure and bad play from ourselves. I thought that we had experience there. Alan Cronin kicked our first point, and always if we’re in trouble he’s the man to glue the holes together. People say it was close but I thought we were a couple of levels above Crokes. I think Brigid’s are a couple of levels above Crokes as well.”
Claiming the scalp of Crokes saw Nemo take a sizeable step towards St Patrick’s Day. But no one in the Trabeg camp is making travel plans for March 17th at the moment.
“We’re around long enough to know that you can only play the game when it happens”, says Kerrigan. “It’s not that long ago since in 2009 we were knocked out in the quarter-finals in Cork. We were nothing then, not even among the top four or five clubs in the championship.”
Kavanagh agrees. “This would be my sixth semi-final and I’ve learnt not to expect anything easy in the semi-finals. We won three in a row at the start, then lost to St Gall’s before winning in 2008. St Brigid’s tenacity is what strikes me as the chief positive about them. It reminds me of St Gall’s a bit a few years ago. We were caught that day so that should be a warning.”
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