Paul Kerrigan aiming for record-breaking 10th county title with Nemo Rangers

Nemo Rangers' Paul Kerrigan. Picture: INPHO/Oisin Keniry

A record 10th Cork senior football medal is right at the top of Paul Kerrigan’s wishlist before he brings the curtain down on his club football career in the coming years.

The 34-year-old pocketed his ninth county medal following Nemo's 2020 Cork premier senior final win over Castlehaven on Sunday, joining, in the process, a small group of Nemo legends who accumulated a similar number of county medals during their own playing days in black and green.

The word around Trabeg is that no Nemo Rangers player has ever managed 10 county medals and so that is now very much the target for Kerrigan before he hangs up his boots.

“I think nine is the joint record with a few lads from the club, so try to get the 10th over the next couple of years,” said Sunday’s county final man of the match. “We've done back-to-back counties, something we haven't done in a long time, so we're happy with that as well.” 

Kerrigan was outstanding in Nemo’s successful defence of the Andy Scannell Cup, kicking the game’s opening two points and providing the assist for Luke Connolly’s two second-half goals. In between, he got through an amount of possession, stitching together several Nemo attacks.

“The first one was a good move, something we've worked on. You see it in inter-county football a lot, the cutback,” he remarked of Luke’s 38th-minute goal that brought a stop to Castlehaven momentum and their narrowing of the Nemo lead from six to one.

“Then the second one, we were keeping the ball before the water break. We drew them out and Luke ended up being one-on-one inside. I just saw him inside and he showed. His man kind of slipped when he turned and he was in, and look, he's a deadly finisher.” 

Nemo captain Micheál Aodh Martin mentioned the late Jim Cremin during his acceptance speech, with Kerrigan also referencing the Nemo club stalwart when basking in this latest county final triumph.

“There was a story he used to say to the older fellas, that the most important Nemo player isn't born yet. So that means it's our job to inspire the next lads, and you see all the kids here. A lot of these lads I play with now saw me and a few older lads on the four-in-a-row team years ago. You want to see teams winning counties and down here that's what you kind of try to inspire them to do.” 

The Nemo quest for county title number 23 commences no sooner than county title number 22 has entered the clubhouse, the champions beginning their 2021 campaign against Valley Rovers this Saturday.

“Valleys gave us a right good game last year, it'll be a right tight pitch up in Ballygarvan on Saturday, but everything has to be celebrated. Members are delighted to be here, everyone's happy to see them all in the field, which is brilliant. We'll celebrate in due course and back training Tuesday.”