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01st Dec 2019

Luke Connolly a joy to watch as he takes Nemo to the promised land

Niall McIntyre

It takes a special type of player to whip a penalty into the top corner with the whole of Hill 16 jeering.

Luke Connolly did that this summer, and then he turned around to tell them to quieten down.

This is a fella who makes the extraordinary look ordinary week after week.

He does that for a living in the green and black of Nemo, and in the red and white of Cork.

A confidence player, Connolly is one of those forwards who can win a game in a couple of minutes. At times, he can be frustrating to watch too. They’ll criticise him for not looking like he’s trying hard enough.

But that’s how gifted this fella is. It comes easy to Connolly and that’s his style. He’ll drift around the place, not a bother on him and it will look like he’s not bothering his back-side. But then he’ll have two defender’s on their back-sides and he’ll have the game won for his team.

Connolly was in the mood on Sunday afternoon in the Munster club final and you just felt sorry for the Clonmel Commercials defenders trying to keep up to him. They couldn’t lay a glove on him and he left them for dead.

He was at it from the word go in the sunny south east. Jinking around the place. Tipping away before going for the jugular. He tapped over a few lovely points along with his partner in crime Mark Cronin.

They were too hot for the Clonmel rearguard to handle on Sunday as they helped their club to a record 17th provincial crown. Connolly was the tormentor-in-chief, kicking seven points, and he saved the best for a wonderful second half score.

A delicious take, a lovely twist before a ridiculous hop solo. Connolly then had the composure to stick it straight over the bar.

Incredible stuff on an incredible day for Nemo – a club who have won Munster championships in every decade since the 1970s.

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