Premier SFC final: Micheál Aodh Martin keen to add another chapter to Nemo Rangers' rich history

In 2022, Nemo Rangers had the unusual experience of going into the Bon Secours Hospital Cork Premier SFC final as underdogs.

St Finbarr’s had impressed all year, not least in their semi-final win over Castlehaven. However, while the pre-match reckoning might have been unfamiliar, the outcome was not – Nemo marking their centenary with a 23rd title, a superb record from 27 final appearances.

On Sunday against Castlehaven, they will look to retain the Andy Scannell Cup and make it six wins in nine years. While there may not be the same level of desire to prove people wrong as last year, Nemo goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin makes the point that there is always a drive to add to the club’s storied history.

“Last year, there was a local rivalry, most of the teams went to school together, so there was a different dynamic,” he says.

“It’s different because it’s not a local rivalry but at the same time this’ll be my third county final against Castlehaven, there’s a rivalry.

“Maybe we admittedly overdid it last year but, when I’ve played county finals with Nemo, there’s internal motivation from the club, that’s what you’re chasing.

“Paul [Kerrigan] is on ten, he’s going for 11. I’m obviously lucky enough to have been able to win counties to date but I don’t think I’d stand out on any medals list in the club.

“It’s that internal drive, you see the photos on the wall, and it’s just getting another one up. It’s like a desperation to keep that going for the club, keep the culture going – there’s no guarantees, you’ll see the best organisations in the world falling apart. You have to keep wanting to do more.

“That’s really where my motivation is.”

In many ways, the lead-in is similar to last year, with Nemo seeing off opponents while not hitting their peak. When needed, they produced against the Barrs and, while Martin knows that that’s no guarantee of a repeat, there is a strong belief that they can make it happen.

“A lot of us would have won the U21 championship against Bantry in 2012, so there’s a lot of trust in each other within the group,” he sas.

“There’s a huge history in the club in terms of getting over the line and we’d like to think that, as a group, we’ve proved that over the years. Now, it doesn’t always happen either – we’ve been on the end of a fair few bad defeats.

“Even last year, yes we came through the county final but that wasn’t the last game of the year and we were very disappointed after that.

“There’s good experience in the group and trust built up over a long period of time. At the same time, just because you’ve done it before, there’s no guarantee you’re going to do it next Sunday. We have to up it.”

However, as good as the Nemo defensive effort has been this year – nobody has scored more than the 1-9 that Carrigaline scored against them – Martin isn’t exactly relishing the challenge of pitting himself against the Castlehaven attack.

“Honestly, no!” he laughs.

“They’ve so many threats and different types of threats. You’ve obviously got the two Hurleys [Brian and Michael] and Jack Cahalane, they’re the three that stand out in terms of the scores they’re putting up – Jack is probably the top scorer from play in the championship and the two other lads are also up there.

“You’ve that threat and the likes of Cathal Maguire and those direct runners they have on their team – Rory, his brother, can pop up. You’ve all those different threats so, no, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it more than facing a team that has just one forward you can zone in on.

“In fairness to them, I think, when you look at the names on paper, they do jump off the page and you have to mentally prepare for each different type of forward and get whatever bit of prep you can, but they’re all quite different and one of eight fellas can come through on goal.”

He won’t be the only Martin donning the green jersey on Sunday, either. While Donagh O’Leary began the year as his back-up and premier intermediate goalkeeper, he got injured and so Martin’s younger brother Cillian assumed both roles.

“It’s grand, he’s happy out,” Martin says.

“He has played in goal since he was 14 or 15, so maybe he was copying big brother. Neither of us are gifted athletically but we work hard and try to make the most of what we were given.

“He’s cool as a breeze. We’re different – he probably gets frustrated at training, when I’d be trying to advise him!”