Nemo Rangers' fight for Division 1 survival continues after Clon win

Nemo Rangers’ fight for survival and Clonakilty’s title aspirations in the McCarthy Insurance Group Division 1 county football league will continue into the final round of fixtures.

Nemo’s 2-11 to 0-14 win away to Clonakilty temporarily eased the Capwell club’s relegation fears in Ahamilla last Saturday night. Heading into their final Division 1 fixture at home to Newcestown, Rangers remain bottom of the table alongside Cill na Martra and Douglas, a point behind Éire Óg and St Finbarr’s.

Naturally, manager Robbie O’Dwyer was delighted to come away from Clonakilty with his side’s third league victory of the campaign.

“Look, it was all about getting over the line tonight,” O’Dwyer commented.

“Things were kind of jittery for the last five or ten minutes. In fairness to the lads, they dug it out and got the result. That’s what we wanted.” 

Ronan Dalton and Alan O’Donovan’s first-half goals proved critical to the game’s outcome even though Nemo had to withstand a ferocious Clonakilty second-half fightback.

“The goals came at good times for us,” Nemo Rangers’ manager admitted.

“I think we worked them well. From that point of view, you never know, in the current game, sure you could be 10, 11, 12, or 13 points up and it makes no difference with the two-pointers.

“A six-point lead is not a cushion anymore. So, from that point of view, you always need to be pushing on.

“Obviously, we have to get a result again the next day. Look, survival will probably depend on how all the results go in the final round of games.

Beating Clonakilty, that’s a start. It’s a springboard and we need to push on over the next two weeks.” 

Clonakilty’s predicament is a much more favourable one heading into their final league outing away to Éire Óg.

The West Cork club entered last Saturday evening’s game level with Castlehaven, Carbery Rangers and Knocknagree in a share of Division 1’s lead.

A disappointing first-half performance was rescued by a late comeback attempt that fell short in injury-time. Frustration was the overriding emotion from Clonakilty coach Eoin Ryan.

“I suppose, the result is our own fault, to be fair,” Ryan said. “I don’t think we performed the way we know we can at all in the first half. You’d be disappointed with that.

We had fellas out there that hadn’t played much football in a while. They had just only come back from injury and I think that showed too.

“We made some silly mistakes, a lot of turnovers. We were happy enough with the second half, I suppose, we put up a bit of a fight anyway.” On the plus side, Clonakilty head into the final round of league games with an opportunity to seal a place in this year’s Division 1 decider.

TARGET

Whilst not a priority, Clon’s ability to stay away from an intense relegation battle and fight it out for a final berth represents a positive heading into the Premier SFC.

“Last year, getting to a league final would have been one of our targets, this year, not so much,” the Clonakilty coach added.

“I think we’re using the league to get as many fellas as we can out on the field. The important thing for us was to survive in Division 1 and we’ve done that.

“So, whether we get to the league final or not, it’s actually not part of our preparation for this year’s championship but if we do, we do.”