Nemo Rangers Edge Out Fermoy in Thrilling PIFC Clash

Nemo Rangers 4-13, Fermoy 3-10: Champions Survive Late Fermoy Surge

For half an hour in Glenville, this McCarthy Insurance PIFC tie looked like a mismatch. By the end, Nemo Rangers were hanging on to a scoreline that flatters Fermoy and still somehow feels harsh on them.

At half-time, Nemo led 3-12 to 0-3. Read that again. Twelve scores to three, three goals banked, and Fermoy barely clinging to the contest.

Then the game turned on its head.

Nemo ruthless in a one-sided first half

Nemo came out like a side intent on ending the argument early. Two minutes in, Dylan O’Connor sliced open the Fermoy defence and slipped Callum O’Neill through. First goal. Statement made.

From the restart, Dave Calnan clipped over a point. Fermoy couldn’t get out, couldn’t get set, couldn’t get a grip.

By the fourth minute, it was 2-1 to no score. Dara O’Sullivan finished the second goal, and the Trabeg men were already cruising, moving the ball with a sharpness Fermoy simply couldn’t live with.

Shane Aherne finally got Fermoy off the mark, with David Lardner adding a free a minute later, but those scores did little to disturb Nemo’s rhythm. Jack Coogan and Jack Horgan tagged on points as the city side tightened their stranglehold.

Then came the third goal on 10 minutes, a killer. A poor restart from Fermoy was punished ruthlessly, Conor O’Donovan snapping up the loose ball and feeding O’Sullivan, who buried it. 3-3 to 0-2, and the gap felt even bigger.

Martin Brennan hit Fermoy’s third point after 14 minutes. That was it from them before the break.

Nemo, in contrast, kept pouring forward. O’Neill pointed again, and only a sharp save from Dale Dawson denied Horgan a fourth green flag. O’Sullivan stretched the lead, O’Donovan chipped in with two more, and Fermoy’s defence was being pulled apart from all angles.

Then even the Nemo goalkeeper joined the party.

With five minutes to the interval, Donagh O’Leary strode up to nail a two-point free. Matthew Keenan added another point, before O’Leary repeated the trick with a second two-pointer. By the time the whistle went, Nemo were 3-12 to 0-3 clear and cruising into the last eight.

Game over? It should have been.

Fermoy’s fightback ignites

Fermoy refused to accept the script.

They shuffled the deck at the break. Former Cork defender Tomás Clancy pushed higher up the pitch. Shane Aherne drifted out around the middle and began to win ball. Arlen Aherne came in and immediately added bite and direction.

He opened the second-half scoring, a small spark in a dark night. Nemo’s response was brutal: their fourth goal, Coogan this time, finding the net. O’Sullivan added a point in the 37th minute, and at 4-13 to 0-4, Nemo were out of sight on the scoreboard.

Or so it looked. That was Nemo’s last score of the game.

From there, Fermoy took over.

Lardner smashed home their first goal to launch the comeback, then added a point, then another goal, dragging the score back to 2-6 to 4-13 by the 42nd minute. Suddenly, Fermoy were running harder, tackling with intent, and asking questions Nemo hadn’t faced all evening.

Shane Aherne and Brennan chipped in with points. Fionn Lardner landed a two-pointer to crank up the pressure further. Nemo, once so fluent, were now hanging on, their earlier swagger replaced by a need simply to see it out.

The last act belonged to Arlen Aherne, who finished Fermoy’s third goal with the final touch of the game. It trimmed the margin, but it did more than that – it underlined how different this contest might have been if Fermoy had played with that same conviction from the first whistle.

Nemo advance, their first-half excellence enough to carry them through. Fermoy leave Glenville with a defeat – and a lingering question about the 30 minutes they never really turned up for.

Scorers

• Nemo Rangers: D O’Sullivan 2-2 (2f), C O’Neill 1-1, J Coogan 1-1, D O’Leary 0-4 (2 two-point frees), C O’Donovan 0-2, D Calnan, J Horgan, M Keenan 0-1 each.
• Fermoy: D Lardner 2-2 (2f), A Aherne 1-2, S Aherne, M Brennan, F Lardner (1 two-pointer) 0-2 each.

Teams

Nemo Rangers: D O’Leary; C Molloy, C Coughlan, A Cronin; C O’Neill, E Nation, D Coughlan; E Kelly, D Calnan; O White, D O’Connor, J Horgan; D O’Sullivan, C O’Donovan, J Coogan. Subs: M Keenan for J Horgan (16 inj), C Yellend for C O’Neill (46), P Kerrigan for J Coogan (50), S O’Dwyer for A Cronin (54).

Fermoy: D Dawson; J Molloy, B Daly, P O’Neill; F Lardner, T Clancy, M Brennan; P Murphy, J O’Brien; D Daly, G O’Callaghan, E Healy; B Twomey, S Ahern, D Lardner. Subs: A Aherne for B Daly (ht), C Fitzpatrick for E Healy (46).

Referee: Brian Crowley (Castlehaven).