Fever pitch in southside schools ahead of Barrs v Nemo

EXCITEMENT is building in many schools on the southside ahead of Sunday’s much anticipated senior football county final between Nemo Rangers and St Finbarr’s.

Several players from both the Barrs and Nemo senior football panels attended Bunscoil Chríost Rí in Turner’s Cross.

The primary school held a Jersey Day on Thursday, which featured flags and bunting from both clubs said their school principal Eoin Fitzpatrick. “We have a huge mixture of students from local clubs in our school, but mainly from the Barrs and Nemo. There is great excitement around the school. The staff and the students are wearing the jerseys of both the Barrs and Nemo. We have put up Nemo bunting here, while some teachers have Barrs bunting outside their doors,” he said.

The primary school principal said the rivalry is ‘fierce’ but healthy. “We have two teachers across from each other, Ivan O’Mahony from the Barrs and Fiona O’Neill from Nemo so there is great fun in that corridor. There is fierce rivalry, but it is a healthy rivalry.” Several pupils from Bunscoil Chríost Rí will be playing at half-time during Sunday’s final revealed the proud principal. “The Barrs and Nemo Rangers U11 teams are playing at half-time and we will have a lot of players playing in that. They are looking forward to playing at the Pairc in front of a huge crowd. We have a lot of connections with both teams. We have a huge number of past pupils involved.

“The Nemo captain Luke Connolly and their manager Paul O’Donovan are past pupils. On the Barrs side Cillian Myers Murray’s brother Gearoid in in school here. Jayden O’Callaghan’s uncle Ian is playing with the Barrs. These players are role models for the current pupils,” he added.

The primary school principal who is a Barrs fan said he now wants his side to complete the senior double. “We are greedy, and we want to do the double.” Coláiste Chríost Rí which has a large contingent of students and teachers from both the Barrs and Nemo also held a Jersey Day on Thursday.

The principal of Coláiste Chríost Rí, Padraig Mac An Rí said there is ‘great excitement’ in the school. “There is a great buzz and excitement within the school. There is a lot of tension as well as we are a neutral zone because we have students from both the Barrs and Nemo. When they are within the walls here, they are Chríost Rí fellas. That is the way it should be,” he said.

Coláiste Chríost Rí have enjoyed considerable GAA success down through the years with numerous successful teams backboned by players from both clubs said the principal. “All the great Chríost Rí teams were backboned by players from St Finbarr’s and Nemo Rangers. If you look through the various teams, you are seeing top players from both clubs who have represented Chríost Rí with great distinction. The camaraderie within the walls is the really striking thing.” Two teachers in the secondary school will be playing in Sunday’s final, Jamie Burns for the Barrs and Paul Kerrigan for Nemo.

St Finbarr’s defender Jamie Burns said there has been good ‘banter’ in the school all week. “It is starting to heat up now in the school. There is good banter. A lot of the lads playing on Sunday were in school together, they played together and won trophies.” Sean Dennehy whose two brothers Conor and Enda are on the Barrs panel said the Andy Scannell Cup will be visiting their school regardless of who wins. “The cup will come back here either way. I just hope it is with the Barrs players.”