Kevin O'Donovan and Mark Cronin key as Nemo hunt 20th Munster final appearance

On Sunday, Nemo Rangers played their 60th Munster Championship match. That much is incredible in itself.

The competition has seen 60 editions completed. Nemo didn’t appear in the first seven. Since then, they’ve featured 23 times. Against Fr Casey’s, in a fortnight’s time, they will be aiming for a 20th final appearance.

What’s most incredible is that, for all those outings, Nemo have only lost five times. Against Thomond College in 1977, Dr Crokes in 2006, Dromcollogher-Broadford in 2008, and Clonmel Commercials in 2015 and 2022.

The Cork kingpins have now won 52 games, while drawing three. That amounts to a 91% progression rate.

They have always won their next game after a county title, apart from their defeat to Commercials on their most recent provincial sojourn. That much was put to bed against Tipperary opposition with their eight-point victory over Loughmore-Castleiney.

Nemo might not have lifted the Andy Scannell Cup for the past three seasons, but their winning culture has never faded.

Take Mark Cronin. Their totemic forward made his 46th championship appearance on Sunday. He has tasted victory 83% of the time: 38 wins, one draw, and seven losses.

Their youngsters fired them through the quarter-final victory over Castlehaven, but Cronin has paved the way from there. Back to fitness, his 1-7 semi-final return was his best in Nemo colours. He has come close to that with 0-8 against St Finbarr’s and 0-9 against Loughmore.

Cronin’s influence can help Ross Corkery and Bryan Hayes to grow into the next generation of Nemo leaders.

Plus, while Cronin caused wreck in the half-forward line, where Loughmore found him difficult to track, Nemo’s even spread means they are also equipped with a highly effective inside line.

Even with Hayes limited to a bench role, Corkery, Ronan Dalton, and Conor Horgan combined for 0-8. On his first start since the opening round, Horgan laid down a marker with two points and three assists, including being fouled for a pointed free.

Like the county final, the heavy lifting was well distributed. Their full-back line of Colin Molloy, Mark Hill, and Kieran Histon seemed to get more licence to break beyond halfway after the interval. They ended with 0-7 in assists, while Kieran Histon kicked the opening point of the second half.

Having held Steven Sherlock scoreless in the county final, Histon backed that up by restricting Liam McGrath’s contribution to three pointed frees.

Key man

Kevin O’Donovan also came forward for a point in either half. When asked about the turning of the tide, Loughmore manager Greg Ramsbottom identified O’Donovan’s role.

“They seemed to push up Kevin O’Donovan to the half-forward line. He gave them a bit of pace there,” said Ramsbottom.

“They won a few more kick-outs and they were moving the ball very quick. As soon as they got the turnovers, you could see they were trying to attack down this (right-hand) side and get the ball into the likes of Cronin and Corkery.

Within the space of five to eight minutes, they were out to seven points of a lead.” 

It was a credit to Loughmore that this was no cruise. The Tipp champions just lacked the scoring quality to match Nemo.

They had their number in every other department during the first half. Even with Loughmore trailing 0-3 to no score after 18 minutes, the game was being played on their terms.

They exerted constant pressure on Micheál Aodh Martin’s kick-outs, winning seven out of nine before half-time. The problem in the second half was their failure to kick the ball dead to reassert that full-court press.

John McGrath scored 1-2 and tackled superbly throughout. Noel McGrath dictated the tempo. But they missed two goal opportunities, were bottled up for a couple more, and had two penalty claims waved away.

Their wastefulness was also due to Nemo pressure. In the tackle, on kick-outs, and the scoreboard pressure applied by accurate kick after accurate kick.

Robbie O’Dwyer’s focus will be on shoring up that defence. Which, admittedly, seems a strange thing to say when they conceded just seven flags, with a last-gasp two-point free inflating Loughmore’s final total to 1-8.

Nemo put three shots wide. They converted 80% of their efforts against Loughmore’s 38%. In short, that was the difference.

Home comforts

The Trabeg titans are up and running now. They were conscious of how Glen Rovers’ two-week gap was referenced as a factor in their underperformance compared to Inagh-Kilnamona coming off a three-week turnaround. The same applied to Loughmore on Sunday.

Nemo worked through the rocky opening to string together eight unanswered points between the 40th and 50th minutes. Any fear of a county final hangover is now removed.

The draw has granted them another home fixture, too, when recently crowned Limerick champions Fr Casey’s arrive down from Abbeyfeale in a fortnight.

It’s nothing novel for Nemo. They’re simply back in their groove.