Christy O'Connor: Nemo versus Barrs remains standout rivalry but can they both make this final?

In all of their years spent winning All-Ireland club titles, Nemo Rangers’ most dominant provincial and All-Ireland odyssey was the 1983-’84 campaign, when their average winning margin across their five games was 11 points.

When they’d won their previous All-Ireland in 1982, Nemo annihilated Garrymore in the final by 18 points, but their average winning margin in their other three matches in that 1981-’82 campaign was six points.

Nemo were such a machine that they had the Cork championship in a similar headlock during those two seasons, with their average winning margin in the 1981 and 1983 Cork championships coming in at 11 points.

And yet, in the 18 matches Nemo played in Cork, Munster and the All-Ireland series during both of those campaigns, they knew that a certain game in Cork was their real gateway match. And standing at the gate on each occasion was St Finbarr’s.

In the 1981 Cork semi-final, Nemo won by four points, with Nemo having seven points to spare against their city rivals in the 1983 semi-final, which was a huge victory at that time.

That 1983 game was their ninth knockout meeting in 11 seasons between 1973-’83, with Nemo winning five times, the Barrs on three occasions, with one draw. Yet the prize and the stakes at the time was far greater than a passage through to a final, or semi-final. Both sides knew that a victory against each other would open the gate to a far wider and more prosperous world.

It all really began in strange circumstances in April 1973 as, two weeks before Nemo beat Doonbeg in Munster final, and two months before they edged past St Vincent’s in an All-Ireland final replay, the Barrs had already knocked Nemo out of the 1973 Cork championship when beating them by two points at the old Athletic Ground.

REVENGE

Nemo exacted revenge with a narrow victory in the following year’s quarter-final, before the heat really ratcheted up in the 1975 semi-final, which Nemo won after a replay in the Mardyke by two points.

When Nemo went on to hammer Dohenys in the final before winning Munster again, the Barrs knew they were close to a huge breakthrough. They had a golden generation on their hands but to crack Cork again required taking out the new force on the scene.

The Barrs did in 1976 when beating Nemo by two points in the semi-final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The following year, Nemo reversed that result at the same venue in the quarter-final when winning by 0-9 to 0-7.

The sides didn’t meet in 1978 or 1979 but nobody was in any doubt by then who were the two best club teams in the country, as Nemo and the Barrs were All-Ireland club champions in 1979 and 1980 respectively.

When they met again in the 1980 Cork semi-final, the stakes had never been higher, with the two previous All-Ireland club champions duelling it out again for more than just the chance to win another Cork title.

The pressure on the Barrs was colossal but they cemented their status as the reigning All-Ireland champions when beating Nemo by seven points in Ballinlough, before going on to become the first side in history to win successive All-Ireland club football titles.

And yet, not long after that success, the Barrs had to prove themselves all over again as they met Nemo again at the gate in the 1981 semi-final, which Nemo won, before going on to win another All-Ireland.

By that stage, the Barrs were in danger of getting worn down after trying to fight a battle on two fronts, with the hurlers having also reached the All-Ireland club final in 1981. But the footballers still kept coming back.

In 1982, Duhallow did the Barrs a huge favour when beating Nemo in the quarter-final in Macroom by one point, before the Barrs sacked the divisional side in the final. The Barrs went on to win another Munster title before losing the All-Ireland semi-final to Portlaoise, in Portarlington, by one point. And Portlaoise went on to win the All-Ireland.

A few months later though, Nemo relieved St Finbarr’s of their Cork and Munster titles and won another All-Ireland.

UNRIVALLED

In the history of the All-Ireland club football championships, there has never been an era like it where two clubs from the same county dominated the All-Ireland club in such a short period of time, with Nemo and the Barrs sharing five All-Irelands in six years between 1979-’84.

That was very close to being six in six seasons. When that timespan is widened, Nemo and the Barrs shared an incredible seven All-Irelands in just 11 seasons between 1979-1989.

When Nemo were All-Ireland club champions in 1989, it was no surprise that the Barrs relieved them of their titles in the Cork semi-final that October, edging past them by one point after a replay.

Now that St Finbarr’s and Castlehaven are meeting again on Sunday for the fifth time in five seasons, it has rightly been acknowledged as the standout modern rivalry of Cork club football, particularly when both sides have won two games each, and with some of those matches absolute epics.

Sunday is the next chapter in this brilliant story, but when it comes to an outstanding rivalry across a particular period, most people in Cork – particularly in the Barrs – will appreciate that the Nemo-Barrs rivalry of the 1970s and 1980s was at a whole different level again.