How Nemo Rangers defied the odds to take down St Finbarr's

The Premier Senior Football final was high-stakes stuff given that the loser knew that they were guaranteed to be in a dark place by half five on Sunday evening. 

Defeat was an unpalatable prospect, but one of them had to taste the bitterness of disappointment.

For Nemo Rangers, it was all about avoiding losing for a fourth year in a row. For a club that won 23 out of 27 since making their first final in 1970, this was hard to stomach.

From a St Finbarr’s viewpoint, this final was the opportunity to brush off the disappointment of last week’s loss to Glen Rovers in the hurling decider. The club were hoping to celebrate their 150th anniversary with a glorious treble, having already landed the camogie.

Ultimately, it was the Barrs who had to deal with heartbreak as Nemo ran out deserving four-point winners.

Nemo settled quickly, racing into a four-point lead early on, and when Mark Cronin landed a beauty of a two-pointer in the 14th minute, the Barrs were already in a hole. Ross Corkery scored soon after to go seven to no score up around the quarter mark.

Drought

Remarkably, 17:49 was on the clock by the time Enda Dennehy fisted over for the Barrs' first score. Being a successful dual club is something to be extremely proud of, but it can turn into a negative when the effort of fighting on two fronts really starts to tell. They certainly looked like a leggy team in the first half.

While Nemo were moving the ball more efficiently, the Blues were able to get some change by the sheer athleticism of some of their stars, as Brian Hayes, Ian Maguire, William Buckley and John Wigginton-Barrett all had joy when running directly at the heart of the Nemo defence. Despite cutting them open the Barrs were unable to get the goal even if they reduced the gap to just three approaching half time.

Just before the short whistle Mark Cronin ballooned a speculative two-point attempt up into the air, while on an advantage, and it landed short with Stephen Cronin gobbling it up and the experienced Nemo man fed it across to Luke Horgan to fist home.

The last kick of the half saw Steven Sherlock kicking a two-point free attempt wide. The talismanic marksman had been starved of supply in the opening half hour, enduring a rare scoreless half. 

They knew they required a Sherlock tour-de-force in the second half if they were going to mount a comeback, but Sherlock never troubled the umpires as Kieran Histon shut him down in a brilliant defensive display.

Dennehy slotted his third point after the resumption to kickstart a comeback and Luke Hannigan was next to split the posts, with Brian Hayes opening up Nemo with two brilliant kick passes. However, Nemo cancelled out those scores with two of their own soon after. Nemo were not going to surrender their lead easily.

Briain Murphy kicked the score of the game in the 42nd minute to move the game to double scores, 1-13 to 0-8 ahead. He brilliantly fetched a Martin kickout and took off on a driving run before deciding 'to hell with it' as he smashed a huge kick against the wind to clear the crossbar down the City End.

Three minutes later, it was game on again. Ricky Barrett launched a speculative high ball in the general direction of Hayes. The ball hit the deck and managed to spill to the Cork hurler who billowed the net with a thunderous strike.

Cillian Myers-Murray landed a monster two-pointer soon after and suddenly Nemo were feeling very vulnerable, as their eight-point lead had become three in the blink of an eye.

It was a wobble but two points in a row from Cronin and Ronan Dalton broke the Barrs' momentum.

Or did it? Enda Dennedy, Hayes and Ciaran Doolin combined brilliantly in the 55th minute to create an opening for Wigginton-Barrett and the corner-forward slotted to the bottom corner.

Hayes was really driving the Barrs now as he brilliantly assisted Myers-Murray and Buckley to score, but a Dalton point sandwiched those efforts to keep Nemo in control.

Hayes’ efforts were in vain, however, as Ross Corkery forced what felt like a match-winning turnover as the clock ticked towards the hour mark and, in the same possession, shot Nemo into a two-point lead.

Mark Cronin then nailed two frees to put them out of sight and to ensure it was party time in Trabeg.