Brian Twomey's Nemo Rangers roots run deep

The story of Nemo Rangers stretches back to 1893 when they participated in a juvenile football championship.

Over 133 years later, they continue to be a serious club at all levels and have produced many talented footballers.

Some better than others but the reality about Nemo is they always manage to get people to give something back. In Brian Twomey, they have a player who is still strutting his skills at the tender age of 42 at the Junior C grade.

After winning seven Cork senior football championships as well as many other titles across various grades, Twomey is this season manager of their Premier Intermediate football team and his love for the club is as strong as ever.

“Like the majority of our players, it begins for us with the street leagues as my parents encouraged me from a young age and of course that brings you to the juvenile section of the club."

That encouragement from his parents was crucial.

"They were steeped in the club as my dad Brendan and mother Anne are loyal Nemo people. Coming up through the juvenile ranks, we were never competing with the elite sides but that’s been the way with the majority of teams in our club for many years."

Competing against good clubs on the way up the grades gained players the experience needed to play at the top tier.

“We saw the results of hard work when we got to minor but when things get serious in Nemo we have the tendency to move up a gear and thankfully we had a great manager in Paudie Dineen who coached us from academy to U21.

Highlight

“The U21 grade was great as the club won four titles in the early noughties. Winning with my own age group of players that included Stephen Twomey, Michael Dorgan and Conor Allen, to name a few, in 2005 was special. We had tasted defeat on many occasions together as a team but never gave up.”

Twomey was recognised for his football skills when he captained Cork minor team in 2002, though they lost out in the All-Ireland semi-final.

After his minor and U21 years, Twomey was then in the shop window to make the Nemo senior team and he had a successful time at the top tier of the sport.

In recent weeks, the talk in Cork is that Nemo are in meltdown after first-round defeats for their top teams but Twomey laughed at that suggestion.

“Look, every year, whether we like it or not, people are looking at us but with the new rules in football it has brought a more competitive game with the weaker clubs at club and inter-county narrowing the gap.

“At inter-county, Louth and Westmeath have shown a new lease of life and for us we will have to brush ourselves down and get ready in order to qualify from the group.

“The two-point rule keep teams battling to the wire but although the rules have made our sport a little better, they still need to look at passing the ball back over the halfway line.”

On the inter-county scene, Cork have made decent strides and last year’s championship proved there is some great talent in the county.

“You could see defeating Donegal on their own patch was a magnificent achievement but in reality, they should have taken Mayo out. It was an opportunity missed.

“Mayo proved winning the All-Ireland that we are not that far away but credit to them they certainly put 75 years of hurt behind them in style as Kerry were outfought and outscored.”

Twomey was also involved in hurling as a player and coach with Nemo. 

“Naturally, football is the main focus but in the club we always say the second most important job is the hurling manager. I won a junior county in 2000 as a 16-year-old but in reality we have a lot of passionate hurling men in our club and hopefully that trend will continue in the coming years.”

The recent hurling success came in 2023 when Sean Hayes joined the management team with Twomey, and they succeeded in winning the county.

On the senior hurling inter-county scene, Twomey believes the players are certainly there to end the 22-year drought next season.

“We have been unlucky losing to Clare and Tipperary, but the Galway defeat this season was a disaster. I'm not qualified to give the answers about how we can get over the line but maybe more sports psychology on this group of players looking at their recent two second-half collapses in GAA headquarters.”