Castlehaven can take the extra step

Replays will often go the way that the drawn game ‘should’ have gone – witness Dublin finishing the job on Mayo for a recent example – but before last weekend this was flagged as a close one and there is no real new information to provide a clearer insight.

Midfield was going to be key and so it proved, but what happened was that each side had distinct periods of dominance – the ball-winning ability of Castlehaven’s Seán Dineen and Nemo’s David Niblock setting the tone – and each side made hay when on top. Nemo did spring a surprise in that Colin ‘Tucker’ O’Brien was withdrawn to act as a sweeper in front of Brian Hurley and it worked in that the Cork start was held scoreless from play.

If that happened again his brother Michael can pilfer scores and Mark Collins showed his versatility by managing to score three.

The Haven claimed it was four but his late match-winning attempt was waved wide. Another Hurley brother, Stephen, will also look to have more of an impact and try to force Tomás Ó Sé on to the back foot.

If Nemo are without Luke Connolly, injured last week, it saps them of a valuable scoring resource. They are consoled, though, by the presence of captain Paul Kerrigan, James Masters and Barry O’Driscoll. Each score was, unsurprisingly, hard won against a stout Haven defence and one would expect similar tomorrow.

Verdict: Castlehaven

Did You Know? The clubs are the last two to lose final replays – Castlehaven to Beara in 1997 and Nemo against UCC two years later.