Christy O'Connor: Pressure on St Finbarr's as favourites but Nemo desperate to avoid losing three in a row

In his Irish Examiner live stream co-commentary at the end of the 2022 Cork county football final, as Nemo Rangers were in complete control against St Finbarr’s and were cruising towards another title, Tony Davis asked a rhetorical question to make a point around the obvious answer.

“How,” asked Davis, “does anyone doubt Nemo in a county final? I mean, this is Nemo that we’re talking about.” 

 For the first time since they arrived as a force in the early 1970s, there were question marks around Nemo in a county final. It was the first occasion Davis could ever remember Nemo being underdogs on that stage. It was also the first time Davis could recall the St Finbarr’s supporters being so confident of beating Nemo. Especially in a final.

Nemo just ate it up against a hotly fancied Barrs side, doing what they invariably always do in county finals. Perform. And Win. “Form goes out the window when it comes to Nemo in a final,” said Davis. “They just know how to win.” 

That was an absolute fact, which the stats more or less backed up. In 27 previous county final appearances, Nemo had won 23. Of the four finals they’d lost, three had been by one score. Their biggest margin of defeat came in the 1992 final when Nemo lost to O’Donovan Rossa by 2-9 to 0-10. And that Rossa team went on to win the All-Ireland.

Nemo just returned the following year to hammer the Barrs in the 1993 final before going on another provincial and All-Ireland winning run.

Nemo had developed a habit of turning county final defeats into missions of atonement and retribution. After narrowly losing the 1999 final to UCC, Nemo returned with a vengeance to win three county and Munster titles in a row, going on to contest three successive All-Ireland finals.

Nemo always knew how to win county finals. And now, all of a sudden, they don’t, having lost the last two deciders to Castlehaven. 

Staring down the barrel of losing a third successive final is incomprehensible. And, to Nemo, absolutely unacceptable.

It has happened before, to four clubs; St Finbarr’s, St Michael’s, Clonakilty and Fermoy. St Michael’s lost their only three final appearances between 1976-’78, while Fermoy suffered that heartbreak between 1942-’44.

Fermoy also had to endure the hardship of losing five finals in seven years between 1912-'18. Clonakilty were exposed to a whole different level of pain again when losing six finals in seven years between 1932-’38 before finally winning a first title in 1939.

MISERY

The Barrs suffered the misery of three successive final defeats between 1989-’91, and four in five years, after losing the 1993 decider to Nemo. But at least a handful of those players could console themselves with having All-Ireland club medals in their pockets from 1987.

Despite their vast history of success, the Barrs have a poor record in county finals, especially across the last four decades. In their last 11 appearances, the Barrs have lost nine of those finals.

Four of those defeats came at the hands of Nemo. The desire to finally beat Nemo in a county final has never been stronger in the Barrs ahead of Sunday. And especially after the disappointment of that 2022 defeat.

The Barrs completely underperformed that afternoon. Then manager Paul O’Keeffe said afterwards that “maybe the occasion got to us”. 

The double was on the table after the hurlers had already won the previous week, but Nemo blew those aspirations to smithereens.

Nemo had their other motivations too, other than being written off and wanting to stop the Barrs doing the double; it was also their Centenary. And bringing the Andy Scannell Cup back home was the best way to celebrate.

Two county final defeats in the meantime has been hard to accept, especially when Nemo had never lost two finals in a row before - never mind in successive years.

HURT

“The last two years have hurt massively,” said Nemo goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin recently. “Probably two years ago in particular because we were a point up going into the 58th minute. It was a case of what could have been.” 

With the Barrs having never beaten Nemo in a county final, Nemo’s record against their city rivals on this stage at least does provide some form of comfort ahead of a potential doomsday scenario that Nemo can’t even bear to think about.

In his acceptance speech after that 2022 final, Luke Connolly said that St Finbarr’s “bring the best out of us”. They do. Nemo will believe that they can respond to one of the greatest challenges their senior team have ever faced on this stage.

Yet it’s also time for the Barrs to show that when they are better than Nemo – which they appear to be this year – that they can prove it on the day.

The Barrs have been devastating at time, especially in the quarter-final when they buried Castlehaven beneath an avalanche of goals. They also appear to have more players in better form at the moment. On the otherhand, Nemo have displayed all their qualities too throughout this championship, especially in the semi-final when they trailed Newcestown by 0-15 to 0-8 with 20 minutes remaining.

It looked like a fairytale story was on the cards, but Nemo don’t do fairytales. And now they want to make sure that they’re not part of a nightmare.