Nemo Rangers crush St Michael's to seal Cork PSFC semi-final place
St Michael's Andrew Murphy tugs on the jersey of Nemo's Mark Cronin during the McCarthy Insurance Group PSFC game between Nemo Rangers and St. Michael's at Shanbally. Picture: David Creedon
It was straightforward, it was comfortable, and it was everything you expect of Nemo Rangers when the stakes are clear. By halfway through the second quarter in Shanbally, their Premier Senior Football Championship clash with St Michael’s on Sunday had long since been decided.
What differed here, was the reward. For the first time under the new format, Nemo stride directly into the semi-finals. Their 17-point dismantling of St Michael’s left no room for doubt.
The scoreline carried its own emphatic punctuation. Eighteen points. Four goals. Five two-pointers. Their work was done long before the final whistle.
For ten minutes or so, Michael’s held on, the breeze at Nemo’s backs still waiting to be fully harnessed. Then Bryan Hayes landed his first from outside the arc, and the contest tilted. Cronin struck twice in quick succession, Hayes another, and by the 18th minute the board read 0-8 to 0-2. Already, Michael’s beginning to unravel.
For 19 minutes Michael’s could not score. O’Herlihy ended the drought from a free on 25, but Cronin punished again with a booming two-pointer just before the interval. At 0-13 to 0-4, the only question was how many more orange flags Nemo would raise before the conclusion.
The answer turned out to be none. The wind swung in Michael’s favour for the second half, but it was still Nemo who dealt the damage.
In the opening ten minutes they hit 1-4, one of Hayes and Cronin involved in each score, with both in the build-up to the goal, as they set up Colm Kiely, who was hauled down for a penalty. Cronin converted, and that left it 1-18 to 0-3.
From there, at least, Michael’s managed a response. O’Herlihy, still fighting, twice nailed two-point frees from outside the arc. Eoghan Buckley split the posts for their first score from play since the very first minute, in the 43rd. Then Andrew Murphy fed Eric Hegarty for a glorious orange flag.
And for all their efforts, the gap remained 11. It was merely consolation, but scorelines elsewhere had at least confirmed that Michael’s would not be sucked into the relegation playoff.
And so, against the breeze, Nemo simply shifted from the twos to the threes, and continued the pounding.
Alan O’Donovan to Kevin Fulignati to Barry Cripps, goal, after 46 minutes. Two minutes later they were in again, a stunning move with six handpasses around the Michael’s defence, palmed home by Conor Horgan.
Hayes, who had been tormentor-in-chief all afternoon, picked out Kiely for the fourth in the 52nd minute, and the forward finally had the goal his running deserved.
O’Herlihy’s late orange flag closed the gap a fraction, but it could not disguise the gulf.
St Michael’s had been picked apart, injuries stripping them bare – Domhnall Cremin, Dan Meaney, Mikey O’Connell all absent – and though survival was secured, ambition had been elsewhere.
For Nemo Rangers, it was hugely impressive. Four goals, five two-pointers, every line of the team functioning, Hayes and Cronin conducting the orchestra.
Straight to the semi-finals, and still, as ever, the standard-setters.
M Cronin 1-7 (1-0 pen, 1 tp, 1 tpf, 0-2 f) B Hayes 0-6 (3 tp), C Horgan 1-2 (0-1 f), C Kiely, B Cripps 1-0 each, K O’Donovan, A O’Donovan, K Histon 0-1 each.
L O’Herlihy 0-8 (2 tpf, 1 tp, 0-2 f), E Hegarty 0-2 (tp), R O’Shaughnessy, E Buckley, R Kavanagh 0-1 each.
MA Martin; M Hill, C Molloy, C McCartan; S Cronin, K Histon, K Fulignati; A O’Donovan, B Murphy; M Cronin, B Cripps, K O’Donovan; B Hayes, C Horgan, C Kiely.
C Moore for S Cronin (49), L Horgan for Kiely (53), E Nation for McCartan (57).
M Burke; L Carroll, A O’Callaghan, S Keating; R Kavanagh, A Murphy, F Leahy; E Hickey, R Shaughnessy; L O’Sullivan, L O’Herlihy, A Hennessy; K Hegarty, J Ryan, E Buckley.
B Cain for Hennessy (16), Hennessy for Cain (HT), D Corkery for Carroll, E Hegarty for K Hegarty (both 41), Cain for O’Shaughnessy (49).
P O’Leary (Kilmurry)
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