Clonmel Commercials 2-15 Nemo Rangers 1-11
Clonmel Commercials were too fast, too strong and too direct for Nemo Rangers in the Munster senior club quarter this Saturday.
For a finish, they ran out seven point winners but it could have been more, it might as well have been ten.
Paul Kerrigan has often talked about the famous 2015 Munster final at this grade.
He’s said that, as a footballer, he’s never experienced a worse feeling than when Michael Quinlivan scored the last minute goal that beat them.
That one stung because it felt unlucky. This one will sting too but it will sting much deeper – because Nemo will know deep within themselves that they were miles off here. And that luck had nothing to do with it.
No, this one was all about James Morris’ tigerish defending.
It was all about Conal Kennedy’s direct running, his brother Colman’s deft finishing, their brother Jack’s pinpoint passing.
Colman Kennedy's left peg still banging them in 11 years on from his All-Ireland minor final heroics v Dublin 💥pic.twitter.com/CyMcvw1cl0
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) November 12, 2022
It was about Kevin Fahey and his fire in the belly, his ice in the mind. Padraic Looram was just as good alongside him in the half back-line and Michael Quinlivan chipped in too. But if you had to pick one man, you could only pick one man.
And that man is Jason Lonergan. The Clonmel centre forward ran himself to such exhaustion that he struggled to catch his breath in his post-match interview. There and then he resembled a cross country runner who had just ran themselves into the ground. That didn’t matter because he had done all his talking on the pitch, as he turned and burned and roasted Nemo Rangers to six points from play.
The fifth of those was brilliant, when he drove down the wing before somehow recovering to fist over the bar.
The sixth was sensational though, as he showed bravery to win a hospital pass, and then pure and utter class to slice it over off the left boot. He kicked points off the right and the left. Nemo just couldn’t get near him all night.
"That's finishing off the game in serious style…"
Man of the Match Jason Lonergan puts the icing on the cake for @CommercialsGAA at Páirc Ui Chaoimh.
📺 https://t.co/5y76j90ZoB pic.twitter.com/UGhLsCPtFe— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) November 12, 2022
Afterwards, he could barely stand.
“I can barely stand but I’m thrilled,” he said on RTE.
The interview of a man who left everything on the field.
It's no wonder Jason Lonergan was struggling to catch his breath – he ran Nemo ragged for 0-6 from playpic.twitter.com/QHX0Df36J4— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) November 12, 2022
“Since the county final, I’ve never seen training like it,” he added. They’ve been incredible, intense and we’ve had some very good challenge games along the way.”
And you could see that in them. We haven’t even got around to mentioning Sean O’Connor, the 21-year-old who kicked 1-3, or Seamus Kennedy, the Tipperary hurler who hassled and harried Luke Connolly to the periphery of the game.
We’ll leave the last word to the county team’s manager David Power, because speaking on RTE, he summed it up well.
“It’s a great night for Tipperary football. Because we’re a really small family,” he said.
A small family with lots of talent.
