Cork Football: Nemo Rangers moved up gears against Douglas to remind us of their class
Douglas player Luis Fogarty tries to set up an attack against Nemo Rangers at Páirc Uí Rinn last Friday. Picture: David Creedon
The biggest contrast between Nemo Rangers and Douglas was the precision of the team’s kicking skills.
Douglas had arrived with cause for optimism, but that was snuffed out long before half-time by their inaccuracy and Nemo’s ruthless streak.
A remarkable 1-7 of Nemo’s 1-11 first-half total came from Douglas players’ careless passing. Much of this wasn’t under intense pressure. Three times, they kicked frees straight to an opponent. Twice, they won the kick-out only to misplace the next pass. Once, they booted the ball straight over the sideline.
By contrast, Nemo’s kicking practice was successfully transplanted from Trabeg onto Páirc Uí Rinn.
Nemo countered quickly with two kick passes. They didn’t get any change down the right, and the next 15 passes were by hand, probing for gaps and hollowing out the centre of the defence.
The move concluded with another two kick passes. Mark Cronin slipped the ball down the line to Conor Horgan. He identified the room behind and picked out Ronan Dalton, who excelled in that pivot role. Horgan sprinted to follow the pass, taking the return before drilling low to the net.
They replicated the same move twice more before the break. Dalton drifted out to halfway before surging through a crowd with that kick-pass give-and-go to land an outstanding two-pointer.
Then, Bríain Murphy used the same blueprint to race down the middle, only for Bryan Hayes’s return pass to miss its target.
Nemo landed three two-pointers in the first half. The first pair also profited from Douglas mistakes. An off-the-ball foul gave Nemo an easy out for the opening score. Rather than take a long-range punt, Cronin played it short and, three passes later, the hotshot had the ball back in his hands right on the arc. Unmarked. Up went the orange flag.
It was a comedy of errors for the next. First, an overhit Douglas pass ran over the sideline. Then, Nathan Walsh spoiled a turnover by picking the ball off the ground just outside the arc. Again, Cronin applied the two-point penalty.
By half-time, Nemo had converted 1-11 from 13 shots. Douglas mustered 0-2 from eight.
Shane Kingston impressed on his footballing return with 0-5 from six shots. Four came from play, including one off his left. Impact sub Seán Coakley added 1-2. No one else got a score.
Douglas will take some solace from the goal chances they created. Conor Russell worked a textbook backdoor cut to initiate the first. Micheál Aodh Martin beat away his shot, and Nemo countered to complete the four-point swing.
The Douglas tactic of unleashing a direct kick pass following a cleanly taken kick-out did work in the 36th minute. Pressing up after Kingston’s third point, Luis Dwan-Fogarty took the mark, soloed-and-went, and delivered an inviting pass for Coakley to turn his marker and lob Martin.
They did it again seven minutes later, but the lively Jack Cunningham fumbled the final pass and screwed wide from point-blank range.
The latter chances came during a Nemo scoreless streak that extended to 20 minutes. Robbie O’Dwyer will serve up a couple of reminders in training this week.
After a poor first half against Ballincollig, O’Dwyer urged his troops to impose their tempo and push up to deliver a second-half turnaround. They set those terms from the start here, but slacked off thereafter.
Douglas pounced upon more breaking balls and got off more shots, but a return of 1-2 in that spell wasn’t enough to revive this flat contest. They ended with a 35% conversion rate. Of their five two-point attempts, none found the target.
Once David Buckley received his second yellow, Nemo kicked on with the next four points.
Mark Hill was an influential figure in preventing any comeback. Earlier, he gobbled up two misplaced passes, which led to an orange and white flag. After half-time, he blocked down shots by Conor Russell and Adam Cantwell to protect the lead. He should’ve even added a score after a surging run, only to produce a corner-back’s finish.
Following a straightforward triumph over St Michael’s, Douglas have three weeks to absorb this blow. A final-round battle with Ballincollig will be a standout fixture at Ballygarvan.
The rest will hopefully get former Cork minor Coakley, who has scored 1-5 in two substitute appearances, into a position to start.
Nemo will also appreciate the break, with some injuries to heal between now and mid-September. They are right back in the hunt, as ever.
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