Nemo Rangers boss Robbie O'Dwyer pleased with the win over Newcestown and to avoid relegation

Nemo Rangers and Newcestown completed their McCarthy Insurance Division 1 League campaign at Trabeg last Sunday morning when the home side emerged victorious on a 0-13 to 0-9 scoreline.

Mathematically, Nemo were still in danger of being relegated, so this win ensured their Division 1 status, while the Carbery side had nothing to play for.

At the back of both managers minds, is the upcoming championship game between the sides.

Nemo were on top in the opening half and led 0-8 to 0-3 at the short whistle, with Ross Corkery, Stephen Cronin, Jack O’Brien, Luke Horgan, Conor Horgan and Micheál Aodh Martin getting their names on the scoresheet.

Seamus O’Sullivan contributed 0-7 of Newcestown’s tally and Richard O’Sullivan was their only other scorer with a two-pointer and the lack of scoring power will be a worry ahead of the championship.

Afterwards, both managers gave contrasting views.

Nemo Rangers’ Robbie O’Dwyer was pleased that his side avoided relegation, while Newcestown’s Jim O’Sullivan was disappointed, but was taking Newcestown’s learnings from the game. 

He also stated that Newcestown, as a dual club, had several players playing both hurling and football, referring to player burnout.

Robbie O’Dwyer had the following to say, as regards his thoughts on the game.

“We got over the line. It wasn’t pretty. We came to get a result. Obviously to try and make sure we were safe, to stay up. We got the result and that’s what we wanted.”

As Nemo Rangers had completed a disappointing League campaign with two successive victories in their last two games and whether it was a worthwhile exercise, O’Dwyer added: “We had four losses and by a point in three of them. We were well-beaten in one of them. We had a man sent off.”

“The League shows this year that things were tight at the top and the bottom. We won our last two games and that gives us a springboard hopefully to go forward.”

O’Dwyer continued, ahead of Nemo Rangers’ opener in the Championship, which is also against Newcestown on Saturday July 25th at Cloughduv: “That’s about a month away. They have a lot of bodies missing. We have a lot of bodies missing from today. 

"We’re hoping we get everybody back and hope we’ll put in a good shift for the next month and hopefully get fellows back on the pitch.”

Newcestown’s Jim O’Sullivan’s thoughts on the game were: “Disappointed with the loss. Disappointed with a lot of aspects of it. Our control of the ball wasn’t good enough. Especially against a team like Nemo and they punished us.”

“A long, hard year thus far. Nine football games. A lot of fellows would have played every minute of those games, as well as hurling. So, we’re back in Championship mode and we’ll take it from here.”

With regards to the past League campaign, O’Sullivan added: “We had a lot of draws and a couple of losses. It is a fierce competitive League. There were a lot of learnings from today and we’ll take them and then move on.”

Ahead of Newcestown’s Championship opener against today’s opponents, O’Sullivan compared the difference in intensity between League and Championship games. “

"Looking forward to that. The League is one part of the year. We start into our heavy training this week, so the Championship is a totally different ball game. Different intensity. 

"Everything is different”