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Cork Premier SFC qf: Nemo Rangers 5-7 Ballincollig 0-14
A Luke Connolly hat-trick has moved Nemo Rangers within an hour of a final county third appearance in four years.
Connolly was in irresistible form during Sunday night’s high octane and at times heated quarterfinals, the Cork striker played a major role in creating the two goals he was not at the end.
However, the result aside, this is a performance that neither Nemo’s management nor the players will get overly excited about.
Yes, they undermined goals at key moments in the proceedings, their two second-half green flags in particular stemming from their effectiveness hitting Ballincollig on the counter, but there were a lot of questions about their midfield and defense and they didn’t always do so. I have the answer.
Certainly, there were plenty of turnovers across the field that the champions wouldn’t have been thrilled to drop.
The fact that this game had to be moved from its original date due to a Covid case at the Ballincollig club means Nemo has a quick turnaround to his semi-final, Paul O’Donovan charges return within the cover-up this Sunday for a 2019 cooperative repeat. final against Duhallow.
What they can interpret heading into the penultimate round this weekend is that Duhallow’s defense will not be half as open as Ballincollig’s. Also, the amount of scoring opportunities they received and designed here won’t be half as abundant next time.
Podsie O’Mahony’s Ballincollig team played a high-stakes running game that, on the occasions it broke, left them terribly exposed at the rear. Another day, they might as well have gotten away with that approach. However, the undeniable class in Nemo’s forward unit caused Ballincollig to be punished time and time again on the counter.
The first goal at nine minutes was something of a treat, a Ballincollig restart thrown in the way of Paul Kerrigan. He fed Barry O’Driscoll who, in turn, unloaded Connolly, the complete forward slammed the ball into the net to give the city men a 1-2-0-1 lead.
Ballincollig worked so diligently to get back into the game and three in a row by Cian Dorgan, Darren Murphy and Cian Kiely canceled the early concession of a goal.
Parity was restored in the 27th minute (1-4 to 0-7), but Ballincollig’s enterprising and energetic performance in the first half was undone with two goals from Nemo approaching the break.
The first of this pair had its roots in a delightful pass from Connolly to Ronan Dalton that shattered Ballincollig’s rear. Dalton threw possession through the great parallelogram to Mark Cronin and he was forced to find the net.
His third goal was controversial in nature, winger Liam Jennings did it extremely hard when referee David Murnane judged him for fouling Peter Morgan when the latter tried to deflect his shot.
Once the protests ended, Connolly stepped to the penalty spot to score his second of the night.
The interval score from 3-4 to 0-7 was tough for Ballincollig, whose only significant scoring opportunity in the first half was kicked by Evan Cooke straight to Micheál Aodh Martin.
Colin Moore, Dorgan (free) and Cian Kiely’s second reduced the gap to four, 3-5 to 0-10, in the 40th minute. Darren Murphy, from a difficult angle, tried to turn it into a low scoring game. later, but his shot was too far from the target. Picking up the breaking ball, Nemo swept the field, Luke Connolly finished the play to complete his hat-trick.
Another three Ballincollig points followed, their comeback attempt again unraveled by a single Nemo counter, this time Connolly provided the assist to Dalton, who sealed the result in 55 minutes and condemned his opponents to a quarterfinal loss in six. seasons.
Scorers for Nemo Rangers: L Connolly (3-3, 1-0 featherweight, 0-2 free, 0-1 ’45); M Cronin (1-2, 0-1 free); R Dalton (1-1); P Kerrigan (0-1).
Scorers for Ballincollig: C Dorgan (0-5, 0-2 ’45, 0-1 free); D Murphy (0-4); C Kiely (0-2); E Cooke, C Moore, D Dorgan (0-1 each).
Nemo Rangers: M Aodh Martin; A Cronin, K Histon, B Cripps; J Horgan, K O’Donovan, S Cronin; P Morgan, J. McDermott; C O’Brien, R. Dalton, B. O’Driscoll; M Cronin, L Connolly, P Kerrigan.
Subs: C Horgan for Morgan (48 minutes); B Murphy by J Horgan (56); C Kiely by Dalton (66).
Ballincollig: J Gibbons; C Moore, L Jennings, S Murphy; JP Murphy, N. Galvin, C Kiely; S Kiely, K Coleman; E Cooke, L Fahy, K Browne; D Murphy, C Dorgan, P Kelly.
Subs: D Dorgan for Fahy (HT); G O’Donoghue for Browne (38); E Reilly for Coleman (51); C O’Donovan for M Cronin (60).
Referee: D Murnane.
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