CORK SIDE NEMO RANGERS were crowned Munster Senior Football Champions for the fifteenth time yesterday. But they didn’t make it easy on themselves.
Leading Kerry’s Dr. Crokes by 1-13 to 0-03 after a marvellous first-half display, Nemo took their foot off the pedal after the break, letting their opponents outscore them by eleven points in the second half before hanging on for a 1-15 to 1-13 victory.
Both sides will be delighted to finally have some closure on a game which seemed as though it might never be played. Twice postponed before Christmas and in danger of falling foul of the overnight drop in temperatures again this weekend, the clash was switched to Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds at short notice.
When the contest did eventually get underway, Nemo showed no evidence of any cobwebs, picking up their first score within 26 seconds through star man James Masters who finished the day with a haul of 1-3.
Crokes struggled to keep pace as Nemo picked off points with ease, even shifting their key man Colm Cooper back into midfield for a period as they attempted to gain some sort of foothold in the game.
One can only speculate as to what kind of words were exchanged in the Kerrymen’s dressing room at half-time, but when Crokes re-emerged for the second period, they wasted little time in trying to whittle down Nemo’s seemingly insurmountable lead.
Although they had managed to peg the Cork side back to six points with 15 minutes remaining, they struggled to continue their fine run of scores. Although Kieran O’Leary’s injury time goal reduced the deficit to two, by that stage, it was too little too late. But only just.
Meanwhile, over in Leinster, O’Loughlin Gaels won their first ever Leinster Senior Hurling title when they saw off Wexford side Oulart-the-Ballagh by 0-14 to 1-8 in Carlow yesterday.
While Nemo got the job done early down in Limerick yesterday, O’Loughlin left it late, outscoring their opponents by eight points to one over the final 20 minutes.
Oulart forward Rory Jacob, will wake up this morning wondering what might have been as he squandered a golden opportunity with the last action of the first half, firing wide from the penalty spot after he had been hauled down seconds earlier.
A forgettable day for Oulart was topped off with eight minutes on the clock when wing-back Lar Prendergast was dismissed for violent conduct.
