There's more in Robbie O'Dwyer's Nemo as they look forward to Munster semi-final

By the finish it was as comfortable as we expected to be, but Nemo Rangers certainly found themselves tested throughout the first half of their Munster Senior Club Football Championship quarter-final win over Loughmore-Castleiney.

The City side found themselves overwhelmed across the middle third early in the game, and would have been in trouble had Loughmore been more clinical.

“We knew coming down today that was going to be a tough battle,” said Nemo manager O’Dwyer. “I mean, they're a good side like they've come out of Munster in 2021, 2024, 2026 so they've played Munster Championship before.

“They're always going to be a tough battle and the first half showed that, and our biggest worry at halftime was we weren't winning primary possession around the middle of the field and they made that hard for us.

“They won the dirty ball in fairness to them but look, I think the second half our fellas started to get on top and we won it at the end of the day and we're delighted.” 

While Nemo were struggling to create chances in the early stages, Loughmore-Castleiney hit back with a goal from John McGrath to draw level.

“It was a bit of a worry. We were very open,” O’Dwyer admitted. “It was straight through the middle there at times there that we were wide open. But look, we got to grips with it after a half time and we got on top around the middle of the field.

“We said it to them at half time, they were showing more hunger than we were.

“We weren't winning the middle eight which is huge and if you can’t win primary possession around the middle of field then it's obvious our forwards are starved of possession but we started to win around the middle of the field, we showed a bit more hunger, a bit of drive, and when we got a bit of momentum I think we showed that at the end.

“It's the middle eight now is everything at the moment, you have to be very dominant around that sector and look we did in the second half and we pushed on and our forwards took the scores.” 

One of those forwards to step up – as he has done countless times already this season – was Mark Cronin. The Cork forward finished the game with 0-9, and was crucial in turning the tie towards Nemo in the latter act.

“If we can get the ball to our forwards, we have good forwards there,” O’Dwyer added. “Mark has been exceptional since he came back from injury and he's our main player really I suppose up front but like he has good assistance from Ross and from Luke Hargan and from Conor Horgan.

“They all played well today in the second half. Especially when we needed them, they got the scores.” 

Now, Nemo will look forward to a home semi-final with Limerick champions Fr Casey’s.

“We’ll enjoy tonight, but look it's two weeks’ time,” O’Dwyer explained. “Any team that comes out of their county, they're going to be a tough battle so we're not going to take any team for granted.

“We’ll look forward to that in two weeks’ time. We'll enjoy tonight but there's more in us, and hopefully we'll push on in a couple of weeks’ time.”