Nemo rocket out of traps to establish vital daylight against Duhallow
A familiar outcome to the Cork football decider, but the display which gave rise to Barry O’Driscoll holding aloft the Andy Scannell Cup was anything but vintage Nemo.
Right throughout yesterday’s fixture, the men from Trabeg were never led. For only five of the 60-plus minutes did Duhallow stand level with their opponents on the scoreboard.
From the 22nd minute onward, Nemo’s advantage was never less than four points. Two minutes before the interval break, that lead stretched into double-digit territory.
We make reference to such to highlight how Nemo were deserving winners of this Cork final, but boy, did they make needlessly hard work of it.
Just two second-half points, only one from play. No score during the closing 25 minutes of action. Outscored by 0-8 to 0-2 in the second half.
Four second-half goal openings, not a single one taken.
Those stats, which make for grim reading, do not belong to the vanquished men from Duhallow, rather they capture an error-ridden second-half effort from the winners who had goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin come to their rescue to ensure Duhallow’s comeback bid was not a successful one.
No question but it would have been a tall order for Nemo to maintain all the way to the finish line the level of dominance which had them 2-7 to 0-2 clear after 32 minutes. That said, they’ll be disappointed with how they allowed their performance unravel to such an extent that they were forced to flood large numbers back in the closing stages to keep the umpire’s green flag stuck in the Páirc Uí Rinn sod.
Wholly inept throughout the first half, Pádraig Kearns’ Duhallow were a side transformed upon the change of ends.
Three-in-a-row from Fintan O’Connor, Donncha O’Connor (free) and Eoghan McSweeney began their revival, but when Donncha sent wide a fairly routine free instead of making it four on the bounce, a miss compounded by Paul Kerrigan finding the target at the other end shortly after to leave the scoreboard reading 2-8 to 0-5 on 40 minutes, there was a strong sense Nemo would coast from here to the last whistle.
What transpired was that they’d not score for the remainder of proceedings.
Aidan and Ian Walsh took over at midfield, with Kevin Crowley superb in driving forward from the half-back line.
Nemo, of course, didn’t help themselves with a number of misplaced passes and downright elementary mistakes.
Anthony O’Connor (free), Crowley, and another from O’Connor cut the margin to six. O’Connor’s second was a goal drive tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Martin.
Crowley, prior to his white flag, had a goal shot superbly smothered by Stephen Cronin.
There followed an Alan O’Donovan wide, a Mark Cronin point attempt which dropped short, and a terrible miss from Eoghan McSweeney.
All three efforts, the first two from men in black and green uniforms, spoke volumes as to the poor quality of this fixture.
An Ian Walsh point five minutes from the end of the regulation hour stemmed from Nemo cheaply coughing up possession. McSweeney’s second arrived 30 seconds after Nemo should have put the ball in the opposition net.
Unable to raise a flag of any description, Nemo switched to survival mode, desperate to prevent Duhallow from registering the goal which would have put them within striking distance of glory.
Their outstanding opportunity fell on the hour mark.
McSweeney and Crowley set up All-Ireland U20 winner Daniel O’Connor, his shot, however, was kept out by Martin.
Back-to-back county final defeats is rough justice on Duhallow. They will spend much of this week kicking themselves at the scores they left behind.
For Paul O’Donovan and his side, who went from dishing out a hammering to hanging on at the finish, this was a strange triumph.
Their first half showing was excellent, no doubt about that. They dictated the tempo, owned the opposition kickout, and punished most Duhallow infractions.
Four wides inside 13 minutes, however, meant it took a while for their dominance to be reflected where it matters.
Having failed to score in the opening 14 minutes, two in quick succession from Kevin Cremin and Donncha O’Connor around the quarter-hour mark cancelled out a Luke Connolly pair. Duhallow, though, would not score for the remainder of the half.
What they did do was stand off their opponents and enable them speed out of sight. The back-to-back points kicked by Colin O’Brien and Mark Cronin were perfect examples of the total lack of pressure being applied by the opposition.
Then arrived the two goals - within 33 seconds of one another - which effectively decided the outcome.
The first was the end product of a most fluid passage of play, beginning with full-back Aidan O’Reilly catching cleanly a Patrick Doyle kick-out.
From O’Reilly, possession was worked through the hands of Kerrigan and Alan Cronin, before Connolly calmly rolled the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Colin O’Brien won the ensuing restart, sent the ball back to Connolly and although his initial low drive was well blocked by Doyle, the rebound fell kindly at his feet.
Ahead by 2-6 to 0-2 at the break, one felt Nemo weren’t for catching.
Ultimately, they weren’t, but they won’t look back fondly on their second-half body of work.
L Connolly (2-4, 0-3 frees); M Cronin (0-2); C O’Brien, P Kerrigan (0-1 each).
A O’Connor (0-1 free), D O’Connor (0-1 free), E McSweeney (0-2 each); K Cremin, K Crowley, I Walsh, F O’Connor (0-1 each).
MA Martin; A Cronin, A O’Reilly, B Murphy; K O’Donovan, S Cronin, J Horgan; A O’Donovan, J McDermott; B O’Driscoll, P Kerrigan, C O’Brien; M Cronin, L Connolly, C Horgan.
C Dalton for O’Driscoll (52); P Morgan for C Horgan, R Dalton for O’Brien (both 59).
P Doyle (Knocknagree); J McLoughlin (Kanturk), K Crowley (Millstreet), M Mahoney (Knocknagree); K Cremin (Boherbue), L O’Neill (Kanturk), B Daly (Newmarket); P Walsh (Kanturk), A Walsh (Kanturk); E McSweeney (Knocknagree), S Hickey (Rockchapel), C O’Callaghan (Dromtarriffe); A O’Connor (Knocknagree), F O’Connor (Knocknagree), D O’Connor (Ballydesmond).
I Walsh (Kanturk) for D O’Connor (40); K Buckley (Knocknagree) for Mahoney (44); D O’Connell (Kanturk) for Daly (49); B O’Connor (Newmarket) for F O’Connor (56); D O’Keeffe (Dromtarriffe) for A O’Connor (62).
J Ryan (Macroom).
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