‘I was just so angry by the end of it,’ says Martin

Nemo Rangers’ goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin revealed he was “angry” in the aftermath of Sunday’s Cork SFC final win over Duhallow.

Martin had a bird’s eye view of his side’s second-halfmalfunction, which almost cost them the title against the divisional side.

Leading 2-6 to 0-2 at the break, Nemo’s second-halfeffort was pockmarked by uncharacteristic and elementary mistakes.

Their forward play, meanwhile, lost all sense of cohesion and rhythm. They didn’t score from the 40th minute onward, their once 11-point lead whittled down to four.

“You are delighted to win a county, but it must have been one of the worst second-half displays I’ve been involved with,” began Martin.

“I lost count of how many times we gave away the ball. We went through on goal three times and went for goal each time, instead of just kicking the ball over the bar. We are usually more composed. It is two county finals in a row now where we’ve done this.

"The same happened in the 2017 replay when we also had a big lead. It is strange. It is obviously psychological when you are 10 or 11 points up. There is no reason I should be called on, no reason it should be so panicked at the end.”

Martin, who was reduced to a spectating role in the opening half such was Nemo’s dominance, ended up having a significant say in this county final, keeping out two excellent Duhallow goal chances.

The first came from the boot of Kevin Crowley, which Martin tipped over. The second, struck by All-Ireland U20 winner Daniel O’Connell, was well smothered by the Nemo number one.

“They are two saves which if I hadn’t made I’d have been pretty annoyed. They were both a nice height. They were at important times of the game. Two years ago when we got a lead on the Barr’s, it was goals that let the Barr’s back in. That was in the back of my head. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw there were six in it.

"I still thought that if they don’t get a goal, no matter how panicked we are, it was going to be a tall order for them to get seven points. That is how it turned out.

CASTLEHAVEN CELEBRATE: Winners of the Cork SFC 25 years ago, left, were honoured at half time during the Cork SFC final at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday.

“I was going absolutely nuts in goal with the amount of times we were passing between the 45 and 65-metre lines. In the first half, we’d have gone through a gap and created a score, but for some reason, it was pedestrian, we were static.

“Fellas stopped going for scores. We stopped doing what we are good at, going at teams. Once we stop doing that, we invite teams on. And sure enough, if they catch you in a tackle, they are going to turn you over. That is what happened. There is no reason it should come down to five minutes of panic at the end. Definitely have to learn from it.”

Martin admitted their poor second-half display did take some of the gloss off the win in the immediate aftermath of the final whistle.

It does, because I was just so angry by the end of it. That is not a normal feeling at the end of a game. But once we go back to the club and see properly all the faces, all the people who coached us all the way up, all the people you care about, and the smiles on their faces, [the performance] does become secondary.

"It means so much to bring the cup back to all the people who put in so much of their time into us.

“We’ll be back training on Thursday and it is something to work on. It is probably not a bad place to be. We were the same two years ago and it is probably good to have something to reference.

“We are well aware of our record in Munster, . It is something we are proud of. As soon as Thursday comes, we’ll be back to it. It is great to be going into Munster as county champions.”