Nemo Rangers Survive Late Storm Against Fermoy in PIFC Clash

Nemo Rangers 4-13, Fermoy 3-10: Champions Survive Late Storm in Glenville

For 30 minutes in Glenville, this McCarthy Insurance PIFC clash looked like a non-contest. By the finish, Nemo Rangers were hanging on against a Fermoy side that left the pitch haunted by the question: why did it take so long to arrive?

At half-time, Nemo led 3-12 to 0-3. Read that again. Twelve scores to three. Three goals banked. Game apparently over.

Then Fermoy ripped up the script.

Nemo ruthless, Fermoy rattled

Nemo exploded out of the blocks. Two minutes gone and Dylan O’Connor slipped Callum O’Neill through for the first goal. From the restart, Dave Calnan clipped over a point. Fermoy hadn’t even settled; they were already chasing shadows.

By the fourth minute, they were chasing a second green flag. Dara O’Sullivan finished neatly as the Trabeg men surged 2-1 to no score clear.

Fermoy finally stirred a minute later. Shane Aherne opened their account, and David Lardner added a free, but it did nothing to stem the tide. Nemo were dictating every kick-out, every break, every contact.

Jack Coogan and Jack Horgan tacked on points as the city side tightened their grip. Then came the third goal on 10 minutes, a killer. A loose Fermoy restart was punished ruthlessly: Conor O’Donovan pounced and teed up O’Sullivan for another emphatic finish. 3-3 to 0-2 and Fermoy reeling.

Martin Brennan struck Fermoy’s third and last point of the half on 14 minutes. From there to the interval, it was one-way traffic.

O’Neill added to his tally, and only a sharp stop from Dale Dawson denied Horgan a fourth Nemo goal. O’Sullivan pushed the gap out again before O’Donovan chipped in with two more points, the scoreboard turning ugly for Fermoy.

Then came a rare sight: a goalkeeper landing a two-pointer. Nemo netminder Donagh O’Leary strode up to nail a free, and he repeated the trick before the break. In between, Matthew Keenan split the posts. By the whistle, Nemo had stacked up a monstrous 3-12 to 0-3 advantage. Fermoy trudged off, shell-shocked.

Fermoy flip the switch

Something changed in that Fermoy dressing room.

Tomás Clancy was pushed higher up the pitch. Shane Aherne drifted out around the middle and began to claw back ball. Arlen Aherne came in at half-time and immediately gave them a sharper edge in attack.

He opened the second-half scoring, a small spark against a huge deficit. Nemo hit back instantly with what looked like the final nail: Coogan crashed in their fourth goal, and O’Sullivan added a point in the 37th minute. That, remarkably, would be Nemo’s last score of the night.

From there, the game turned.

Fermoy suddenly played with purpose and bite. Lardner buried a goal to light the fuse on an unlikely comeback and tagged on a point. He then struck again, his second goal hauling the scoreboard to 2-6 to 4-13 after 42 minutes. Nemo, so slick and composed earlier, now looked uncertain.

Shane Aherne and Brennan clipped over points as Fermoy poured forward. The pressure was relentless now, the body language transformed. Fionn Lardner then added a two-pointer, and what had been a procession was now a contest laced with tension.

Nemo, scoreless since the 37th minute, were suddenly defending a lead they had once stretched to 18 points.

The last act belonged to Arlen Aherne. With the final touch of the game, he lashed home Fermoy’s third goal. The whistle sounded almost immediately. The scoreboard read 4-13 to 3-10. Nemo through, Fermoy out – but the story far more complicated than the margin suggests.

Numbers that tell the tale

For Nemo, Dara O’Sullivan led the way with 2-2 (including two frees), while O’Neill and Coogan each hit 1-1. O’Donagh O’Leary’s 0-4 from placed balls – two of them two-pointers – proved significant, backed by points from O’Donovan (0-2) and singles from Calnan, Horgan and Keenan.

Fermoy’s fightback was driven by David Lardner with 2-2 (two frees), Arlen Aherne with 1-2, and key contributions from Shane Aherne, Brennan and Fionn Lardner, who chipped in 0-2 apiece, Fionn’s including a two-pointer.

Nemo’s bench also played its part, with Keenan introduced for the injured Horgan after 16 minutes, while C Yellend, P Kerrigan and S O’Dwyer all saw game time. Fermoy’s big change came at half-time, Arlen Aherne replacing B Daly, with C Fitzpatrick later coming in for E Healy.

Referee Brian Crowley of Castlehaven oversaw a contest that morphed from mismatch to near-classic.

Nemo advance, but the tape of that second half will sting. Fermoy walk away knowing they almost turned a rout into a heist. The question that will linger for them all summer: what if they’d played like that from the throw-in?