Nemo end Newcestown's glorious bid in extra-time epic Cork SFC semi-final

EPIC BATTLE: Conor Horgan, Nemo Rangers looking to break past Colm O'Donovan, Newcestown. Picture: Dan Linehan

A lot of scripts write themselves. Nemo Rangers against Newcestown in the semi-final of the Cork Premier SFC should be one. This was Nemo’s 19th semi-final of the 21st century. This was Newcestown’s second semi-final at this level ever.

When David Murnane called time on this encounter on Sunday afternoon after well over 80 minutes of football, Nemo had made it 17 wins from 19 while Newcestown fell at the second last hurdle again. The result may have kept in line with pre-game expectations, but anyone who was in SuperValu Pairc Uí Chaoimh knows what they saw.

Nemo Rangers goalkeeper, Micheál A Martin, a man with plenty of experience behind him, called the event “one of the most stressful games I’ve ever played in. And I’ve played in a lot of close games before, games that have gone to extra time, went to penalties last year. 

"There’s an unbelievable want in the dressing room. We’ve lost two finals in a row, and then you’re point for point for the last, I don’t know, 30 minutes. The emotional energy, you could see everyone was dying out there. Fellas just kept going, and Newcestown wanted it just as much as us. I don’t think I’ve played in as stressful a game as that.” 

That feeling was palpable in the stadium. The feeling that something special was on the verge of happening, that one of Cork football’s triumvirate was staring into the abyss. And make no mistake about it, Nemo were staring deep into the darkness. A Colm Dinneen two-pointer left the city giants trailing by 0-15 to 0-8 with just over 20 minutes to go.

Newcestown didn’t arrive up in the city content to be plucky underdogs. Their ambitions were much higher than that. The silence that surrounded their dressing room afterwards was the type that you just don’t want to break because it said everything that needed to be said. The stillness was bursting with pride, laced with regret, overwrought with pain.

Jim O’Sullivan articulated all of that with a decorum that reflected a deep well of fortitude. “It’s heartbreak, because I thought we played brilliantly, especially at the start of the second half. We gave away a seven-point lead, which is uncharacteristic. They were going to come back at us. But I’m immensely proud of the boys, they were brilliant. 

"The effort they put in, even all the way through extra time when they were cramping. Both teams deserve huge credit. It was a great game of football, I think anyway. We were confident coming up here. We thought we’d win this, we were convinced we’d win it, to be totally honest.” 

When it comes to Newcestown, it’s impossible not to talk about their dual mandate. They are the quintessential binary club, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence with the big ball and the small ball for the glory of their little corner of the world. Even their jerseys reflect their dualism. An equal mix of red and gold, chasing silver.

They have been here before, with the smaller ball. Back in 2018, when nobody could lay a glove on Imokilly in the Cork SHC, it was Newcestown who went closest to clipping their wings. It was a quarterfinal then, but just as on Sunday, they fell one-point short. However, they’ve shown enough this season to suggest that this is by no means their high-water mark.

In the end, Nemo faced down the darkness, as they have done before, as they will again. A third county final in-a-row now lies before them, they know the road home from here. They had big moments from big players at all of the crucial junctures. When they went seven points down it was Kieran Histon who billowed the Newcestown net, when they needed a score to bring the game into extra time it was Conor Horgan and when the game needed to be won it was Luke Horgan and Mark Cronin.
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Martin’s declaration of faith in his colleagues speaks much for the trust and resilience that exists in the group.

“We’re lucky that we have six or seven or eight lads who I’d back, in that moment, someone who’ll step up. And today it was Kieran Histon. He had the job of marking David Buckley, but he just decided in that moment, we won the ball deep, started an attack and he just went. That was unbelievable leadership, and it was suddenly four points. And at that point we just pushed up all over the pitch, we said we were going to die with our boots on.” 

When all was said and done, Newcestown had injected some badly needed romance into a weekend of football on Leeside that was laced with predictability. And, eventually, Nemo Rangers put paid to any sense of sentimentality. That’s what makes them who they are.