Nemo Rangers open minor campaign with impressive win over Bishopstown

Nemo Rangers 2-18 (2-1-16) Bishopstown 2-9 (2-1-7)

Nemo opened their Cork ETB Premier 1 MFC campaign with a win over Bishopstown at Trabeg on Wednesday night.

It was close all through until Nemo got their second goal, when Cormac Sheehan scored, and that put them 2-16 to 2-8 in front, as it effectively killed off the game as a contest.

James Randles opened the scoring for Nemo, with Alex Collins replying at the other end.

Conor O’Grady put the Town in front, before Morgan Corkery made it 0-2 apiece after five minutes.

A minute later, Conall McBride found the back of the net for Bishopstown.

He caught a long ball in and knew he had the luxury of the mark to fall back on if he missed his chance.

But a superb shot from the corner-forward saw him find the top corner, giving Callum McCarthy O’Donovan no chance of saving, to make it 1-2 to 0-2.

Nemo responded in style with Rory Denn leading their attack. He got their third point and then hit two more, without reply, to make it 1-2 to 0-5 after 12 minutes.

A minute later, we had the only two-pointer of the first half, when Larry Butler split the posts for Nemo to put them in front, 0-7 to 1-2.

Stephen Young pulled a point back for Bishopstown, before they had their keeper, Daniel Wiseman, to thank when he saved superbly from Michael Scott.

Conor Enright was on target from a free for the Town, with McBride also pointing, to make it 1-5 to 0-7 after 20 minutes.

But a strong finish to the half by Nemo saw Scott, Denn, and Mark O’Keeffe all scoring as they led by 0-10 to 1-5 at half-time.

Collins and Denn exchanged points at the start of the second half, with Corkery and O’Keeffe adding to Nemo’s tally to make it 0-13 to 1-6.

With 40 minutes gone, the Town got their second goal when Sean Herrick scored, but Nemo responded almost straight from the restart with a green flag of their own.

A well-worked team move saw Butler score, to make it 1-13 to 2-6.

Corkery, Denn, and O’Keeffe added points before Collins replied with a two-pointer for the Town.

With 52 minutes gone, Sheehan got Nemo’s second goal as they finished strongly to seal the win. Scott and Denn rounded off the scoring as Nemo opened their campaign with a win in an entertaining game.

Scorers for Nemo Rangers: R Denn 0-6 (0-1 f ), L Butler 1-2 (1 2pt), C Sheehan 1-0, M Corkery, M Scott, M O’Keeffe 0-3 each, J Randles 0-1.

Bishopstown: C McBride 1-2, A Collins 0-4 (0-1 f, 1 2pt), J Herrick 1-0, C Enright 0-2 (0-1 f), S Young 0-1.

NEMO RANGERS: C McCarthy O’Donovan; D Geary, J McGorry, L Smyth; M McCarthy, C Power, J Randles; C Sheehan, C Randles; R Denn, M Scott, L Butler; M Lynch, M O’Keeffe, M Corkery.

Subs: C Herlihy for M Lynch, A Quinlivan for L Smyth (both 32), S O’Flaherty for L Butler (51), O Jordan for M O’Keeffe (57).

BISHOPSTOWN: D Wiseman; C Reed, B Maloney, R Lenihan; S Young, J O’Callaghan, A O’Callaghan; C Enright, J Herrick; S Herrick, A Collins, C Kelly; C McBride, C Clarke, R Casey.

Subs: M Coleman for C Kelly (48), C O’Grady for R Lenihan (54), S Galvin for S Herrick (57), E O’Brien for C Reed, T Murray for J Herrick (both 59).

Referee: James Regan, Lough Rovers.