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23rd Sep 2018

It took Nemo Rangers 45 minutes to score in Cork quarter final

Niall McIntyre

There were only 15 minutes of the game left when Nemo Rangers registered their first score.

Now just because there’s a low scoring game of Gaelic football in Cork, it doesn’t mean that the game of Gaelic football is dead in Kerry and it’s dead in Dublin. It’s not even a death-knell for Gaelic football in Cork. Rough September weather can contribute to it, and believe it or not there are days when defenders just get the better of the attackers they’re up against. Simple as.

All teams have their bad days, all forwards have their bad days. That happens and Gaelic football still remains.

Nemo Rangers didn’t just have a bad day on Sunday, they had a horrible day and they’ll be the first to admit that. It doesn’t mean that this great side are a beaten docket now, it just means that they had one of those horrible days when the ball wouldn’t hop for them and absolutely nothing would go right for them.

Because Nemo Rangers are the most successful Gaelic football club team Ireland has ever had. They’re the reigning Cork and Munster champions and only an exceptional Corofin team denied them their 7th All-Ireland club last year.

Only three of the men who played in that All-Ireland final defeat weren’t playing in Sunday’s howler. They haven’t become a bad team overnight and that’s why comments on social media calling for their supporters to be refunded and so-on are off the mark. Supporters are supposed to be there in bad days and in good.

Nemo were favourites going into their county quarter final clash with Castlehaven and they were favourites to win the Cork county title again, for a 21st time.

What transpired in the last eight clash, was a disaster for them but it wasn’t a disgrace, as many were dubbing it.

By the 41st minute of their quarter-final clash, Castlehaven were leading them by 1-7 to 0-0. Though that looks shocking, Nemo had kicked nine wides in the first half alone. Players aren’t machines, their confidence can take a hit after things like that.

It was only in the 43rd minute that they registered the first point of this game through Luke Connolly. Yes, the stats are damning. They only had two scorers, they only kicked two points from play and they ended up losing by 1-10 to 0-4 in the end.

 

But maybe Casltehaven deserve a bit of praise here. They’ve won two county titles in the last five years, they’re a good side too. It’s not as if any side goes out to play badly.

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Topics:

Cork GAA