O'Donovan and Nemo defy elements and Clon to slosh into Cork semis
RAINING CHAMPS: Nemo Rangers' Conor Horgan and Clonakilty's Sean White trying to win the ball in the Bon Secours Cork PSFC at Bandon. Pic: Denis Minihane.
Hail, rain, or sleet, they’re still Nemo Rangers and their way is to find a way. This Cork Premier SFC quarter final was less about winning, more about surviving the dreadful conditions in Bandon. In every sense, staying upright was the priority of the day.
The defending champions have shown time and again that they are masters at squeezing out the tight games, and though they didn’t hit the front until the 45th minute in Charlie Hurley Park, there was a sense of greater poise when they had the ball in the final quarter. Clon had a flurry of late offences to force extra time, including a late mark from Niall Barrett that fell short, and two blocked efforts from Darragh Gough – but those chances didn’t block themselves. Though he skirted the line with excessive foul play Alan O’Donovan was the epitome of Nemo’s defiance as they ground out victory.
The lexicon of aquatic sports might have been more appropriate for sodden supporters as both sets of players fell, slithered and coughed up possession, making any fluency in this last eight tie a forlorn prospect.
Both sides could justifiably argue that tactics and technique were rendered redundant, but perhaps Clonakilty might have pitched a permanent presence close to Nemo’s goal late in the day to force their opponents out of that set zone defence which proved too difficult to penetrate. Anything into the danger zone had potential on a day like this.
There were fleeting moments of class. Mark Cronin grabbed three of the five points, the last one a fisted effort that provided decisive. Though Nemo had use – whatever use it was – of the gusting breeze after half time, they were content to sit deep and employ Luke Connolly and Cronin on the break.
They lost Connolly late in the day, though the ankle problem was not serious enough to prevent him returning as an injury time substitute.
Nemo can’t have been dissatisfied with their first-half work into the driving rain either, and their attacking forays into the breeze were as plentiful and threatening as Clonakilty’s.
They kicked five wides, and had a hint of a goal chance on 27 minutes out of nothing for Connolly but he couldn’t slide it past Clon keeper Mark White.
Slide was the operative word. When the sides retired at the break with the west Cork men edging the odd point in five (0-3 to 0-2), there were genuine concerns whether the game would even resume. The match officials were doing some head-shaking at half-time, though it may have been the length of time Clonakilty were spending in the relative comfort of their dressing room.
To his credit, referee David Murnane applied common sense where possible but frustrated Clonakilty supporters would have feared whether the minimum advantage at the break was sufficient.
They had started in a controlled fashion, Liam O’Donovan breaking free of his defensive duties on Mark Cronin to score from the pavilion side. A Conor Daly free was deflected over the bat by Nemo full back Briain Murphy, accentuating the sense of farce.
Ross Mannix was accurate with a mark to edge Clon 0-3 to 0-1 in front, but when the lively Conor Horgan was adjudged to have been fouled, Nemo’s Mark Cronin claimed their second point – any score into the tempest was worth double in truth.
Nine minutes after the break, the best point of the evening as Mark Cronin used the better underfoot conditions on the pavilion side to turn inside and point well. It was never going to be a case of kicking on thereafter, the elements put paid to that, but Nemo edged in front for the first time via Paul Kerrigan on 44 minutes.
There was a full 40 minutes between Mannix’s 20th minute mark for Clon and their only other score, a Gough free late in the day. It made extra time a possibility, but Nemo have been here before.
M Cronin (0-3, 1f), C Horgan, P Kerrigan (0-1 each)
L O’Donovan, C Daly (free), R Mannix (mark), D Gough (free) (0-1 each).
M A Martin; K Histon, B Murphy, K O’Donovan; G Sayers, K Fulignati, S Cronin; B Cripps, A O’Donovan; C Horgan, P Kerrigan, J Horgan; M Cronin, R Dalton, L Connolly.
L Horgan for Sayers (44), J Coogan for Connolly (inj, 49), for C Molloy for Dalton (55), F Murphy for Leahy (57).
M White; L O’Donovan, D Peet, D Lowney; S White, T. Clancy, J O’Mahony; M Shanley, B Ridgeway; C Kenneally, D Gough, S McEvoy; R Mannix, C Daly, J Leahy.
N Barrett for Daly, O Bancroft for Kenneally (both 53), L Connolly for Fulignati (65).
D Murnane (Macroom)
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