Nemo Rangers Hold Off Fermoy's Late Surge in PIFC Clash
Nemo Rangers 4-13, Fermoy 3-10: City side survive furious late storm
For 30 minutes in Glenville, this McCarthy Insurance PIFC clash looked like a non-contest. By the end, Nemo Rangers were hanging on to a nine-point win that felt far tighter than the scoreboard suggested.
At half-time, Nemo led 3-12 to 0-3. By full-time, Fermoy had rattled in 3-7 without reply in a remarkable second-half surge that left them walking off the field asking the obvious question: why didn’t they start like that?
Nemo blitz from the throw-in
Nemo tore into Fermoy from the off and had the ball in the net after just two minutes. Dylan O’Connor slipped Callum O’Neill through and he buried the first goal. From the restart, Dave Calnan clipped over a point. Fermoy were already on the back foot and never settled.
With four minutes gone, the gap widened. Dara O’Sullivan finished Nemo’s second goal as the Trabeg men stormed 2-1 to no score in front.
Fermoy finally got off the mark a minute later through Shane Aherne, with David Lardner adding a free, but those scores did nothing to stem the tide. Nemo simply went up the pitch again, Jack Coogan and Jack Horgan splitting the posts to reassert control.
Then came the third goal, and it was a gift. On 10 minutes, a poor restart was pounced upon, Conor O’Donovan turned it over and fed O’Sullivan, who slammed home his second green flag. 3-3 to 0-2, and Fermoy were in deep trouble.
Martin Brennan landed Fermoy’s third point after 14 minutes. It would be their last score of the half.
Nemo, by contrast, kept their foot down. O’Neill pointed, and they almost had a fourth goal only for Fermoy keeper Dale Dawson to produce a sharp save to deny Horgan. O’Sullivan stretched the lead further, before O’Donovan added two more points as the city side toyed with their opponents.
Then the Nemo goalkeeper got in on the act. With five minutes to the break, Donagh O’Leary strode up to nail a two-point free. Matthew Keenan followed with another point, and O’Leary struck again from a second two-point free to close out a ruthless half: 3-12 to 0-3, Nemo cruising.
Fermoy flip the script
Whatever was said in the Fermoy dressing room worked.
They reshuffled. Former Cork defender Tomás Clancy pushed higher up the pitch. Shane Aherne drifted out towards the middle and started to win ball. Arlen Aherne came in at half-time and injected energy and direct running.
He opened the second-half scoring, finally giving Fermoy a foothold. Nemo answered immediately, though, with what looked like the killer blow: Coogan fired in their fourth goal, and when O’Sullivan added a point on 37 minutes, it brought Nemo’s tally to 4-13.
Remarkably, that was their last score of the game.
From there, it was all Fermoy. Lardner ignited the comeback with a well-taken goal and then tacked on a point. Moments later, he struck again for a second goal to drag it back to 2-6 to 4-13 after 42 minutes. The deficit was still sizeable, but the momentum had flipped completely.
Shane Aherne and Brennan chipped in with points as Nemo, so fluent earlier, suddenly struggled to escape their own half. Fionn Lardner then drilled over a two-pointer, tightening the gap and lifting Fermoy’s belief even further.
Nemo were now clinging to the cushion they had built before the interval. Fermoy kept coming, and deep into added time Arlen Aherne bundled in their third goal with the last touch of the game.
Too late. The whistle went on the restart, leaving Fermoy with a 3-10 tally and a lingering sense of regret at those opening 30 minutes.
Standout performers
For Nemo, Dara O’Sullivan’s 2-2 (including two frees) and the early strike from Callum O’Neill set the tone, while Coogan’s 1-1 and O’Leary’s 0-4 from placed balls – two of them worth two points – underpinned that massive half-time advantage. O’Donovan’s 0-2 and scores from Calnan, Horgan and Keenan rounded off a spread of threats.
Fermoy’s fightback was driven by David Lardner, who finished with 2-2, including two frees. Arlen Aherne hit 1-2 off the bench, with Shane Aherne, Brennan and Fionn Lardner all contributing 0-2 apiece, Fionn’s including a crucial two-pointer.
Nemo march on with the win, but the story of the night may yet belong to Fermoy: a team that showed, all too late, just how dangerous they can be when they finally let loose.
