Nemo lose man but ride out late storms

For most of this AIB All-Ireland semi-final, you wouldn't have given much for the chances of a gripping conclusion. But that's what we got. In a way it distorted Nemo's superiority over the hour but O'Hanrahan's pushed the match to the limit and at moments during the frantic endgame, the prospect of a surprise win shimmered invitingly before the Carlow team and their supporters in the big crowd in Clonmel.

The Cork champions had largely controlled matters until the 46th minute when corner back Larry Kavanagh was shown a red card. Kavanagh had been playing with great assurance before the incident which saw him get entangled with his namesake Pa Kavanagh when emerging with the ball. He appeared to hit out and was shown the line, a sanction with a high price for the winners as a four-week ban will rule him out of next month's final.

Nemo manager Billy Morgan was disappointed for his defender. "Larry's one of quietest players there is. He's hardly even been booked. Overall I'm happy with the result because we could have been beaten but we were well in control for the first half and even towards the end, I wasn't panicking."

The match started just as Nemo would have wished. O'Hanrahan's looked nervous and failed to move as fluently as they did in the Leinster final. At the back they were jittery, conceding fouls which Colin Corkery punished remorselessly. The big full forward opened his account with two frees in the first five minutes and Joe Kavanagh and the excellent David Niblock added to the total.

At four points down with the first quarter nearly over, there was a sense that O'Hanrahan's might lose self-belief and implode. Under pressure at the back, they weren't doing particularly well at midfield and the final ball into the forwards was poor and created no great difficulty for the Cork club.

The Leinster champions then got what they and the match needed when a beautifully judged ball from Mark Carpenter picked out Anthony Kavanagh, who had somehow managed to leave Niall Geary in no-man's land, and he slipped the ball into the net. This was the first test of Nemo's mettle and they passed it comfortably.

Continuing to work the ball around the middle and pick off the points, the Cork team suppressed any notions of a strong O'Hanrahan's comeback. Steven O'Brien was playing superbly at centre back, winning ball and distributing it with penetrating accuracy. His reading of the game and his (substantial) physical presence stopped the Carlowmen building quick attacks and establishing a platform for their combination play.

In the last minute of the half, there were a couple of incidents which indicated gloomy things for O'Hanrahan's. Firstly they kicked away a free out only to watch Derek Kavanagh drop it back in to Alan Cronin who pointed. At the other end, Pa Kavanagh had an eminently kickable free but dropped it short. Corkery completed the trend by screwing over a remarkable free from the right-hand corner for a 0-9 to 1-1 interval lead.

Five points looked beyond O'Hanrahan's, even though the wind was in their favour, and Corkery briskly made it six within a minute of the restart. Gavin Walker's response hinted at what the Leinster champions do best, quick transfer and a well-taken point but the accuracy of their passing still left much to be desired and again and again, the ball was given away.

Even when Anthony Kavanagh lofted a great sideline kick for a point, the feeling was still that O'Hanrahan's weren't scoring fast enough and would need goals. Larry Kavanagh's dismissal did appear to tip the scales against Nemo but they didn't lose their bearings when the pressure came on.

Which it did. Pa Kavanagh kicked the free that followed the sending-off and when he added another in the 51st minute, there were only two points between the teams with 10 minutes to go.

As O'Hanrahan's got a grip, wing forwards Mark Carpenter and David Bermingham, who had switched positions, began to dictate the tempo up front. Carpenter was getting stuck into his playmaker role and Bermingham - who had replaced the suspended Carpenter for the Leinster final - began to win ball and drive forward.

Morgan was right to be pleased with Nemo's response. Although a man short they didn't vary their patient game and Corkery pointed a free with five minutes to go. Bermingham replied and despite the air of excitement around the ground, the best O'Hanrahan's could do was swap points in the dying minutes.

It sends Nemo into their first final in seven years, an unprecedented wait for the aristocrats of club football.

NEMO RANGERS: D Steaphy; L Kavanagh, N Geary, I Gibbons; K Connolly, Steven O'Brien, M Cronin; D Kavanagh, K Cahill; Sean O'Brien, L O'Sullivan, D Niblock (0-2); J Kavanagh (0-2), C Corkery (0-7, all frees), A Cronin (0-1). Subs: M McCarthy for O'Sullivan (53 mins).

O'HANRAHAN'S: J Brennan; B English, A Corden, N English; B Hannon, K Walker, K Kavanagh; P Nolan, A Bowe; G Walker (0-1), P Kavanagh (0-3, all frees), D Bermingham (0-1); B Walker (0-1), A Kavanagh (1-1, point from sideline), M Carpenter. Subs: S Farrell for G Walker (47 mins).

Referee: B Gorman (Armagh).