In this week’s ‘My Club’ feature, Cork U-21 football captain, Stephen Cronin, tells us all about Nemo Rangers Football and Hurling club.

By John Harrington

Nemo Rangers from the south side of Cork city hold the proud status of being the most successful club footballers in the history of the game.

They've won an incredible haul of 19 Cork Senior Football Championships, 15 Munster Senior Football Championships, and seven All-Ireland Senior Football Championships. Those seven All-Irelands put them top of the pile, just ahead of another storied GAA club, Crossmaglen Rangers, on six.

Nemo Rangers have produced some produced some all-time greats of the game like Billy Morgan, Dinny Allen, Jimmy Kerrigan, Steven O’Brien and Colin Corkery, and their success in last year’s Cork championship with a new-look young team proves the conveyor belt of talent is still whirring merrily.

The club was formed in 1922 and is an amalgamation of two previous clubs, Rangers and Nemo. Rangers had been in existence since 1893 and were relatively successful, winning a minor Championship in 1907. Nemo’s origins have been traced back to 1910 when pupils of the North Monastery were anxious to play hurling against the wishes of the school principal who preferred to promote rugby in the school.

A lay teacher, Seamus ÓhAodha invented the name Nemo, as he wanted the letters NM (North Monastery) in the title, and as Latin was taught in the school he came up with the name Nemo from the Latin word meaning “nobody”. This is presumably because the playing of hurling was outlawed by the powers that be in the school. Pupils from the South Parish/Turners Cross area who were attending the North Monastery, then adopted the name and set up the Nemo club in 1915.

The clubs decided to amalgamate in 1922 because their memberships had fallen due to a combination of emigration and a number being imprisoned for their roles in the fight for Irish freedom.

From early on, the newly formed club was a potent force, and won the Cork Intermediate Football and Hurling Championships in 1928. The club’s home in the thirties was the present Turners Cross soccer stadium, but by the end of the decade they had withdrawn from competitive matches because they struggled to field teams due to mass emigration from the area.

The club was reformed in 1946 and enjoyed a golden era after they moved to the South Douglas Road and won their first Senior County Football title in 1972. During the 20 years from ’72 to ’91 they won 10 County Senior Football titles, nine Munster titles, and six All-Irelands. 

Their success on the football pitch has continued unabated since the turn of the millennium, with another nine County, six Munster, and one All-Ireland titles won. The fruits of their hard labour are also reflected in at state of the art clubhouse complex in Trabeg where they moved after selling their old grounds.

If their success in last year's Cork championship is any barometer, it seems like the Nemo Rangers success story will continue for the foreseeable future.

For more information on Nemo Rangers, log onto the club's official website - www.nemorangers.ie

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Q: Have you much of a family history with Nemo Rangers?

**A: **My Grandfather was actually treasurer with Nemo for a number of years back even before they had the old club-house down in Capwell. He's on my mother's side, my father is actually from 'The Barrs', St. Finbarr's, our biggest rival club. I suppose there was never any doubt that we were going to play for Nemo. My uncles all played there and one of them would have played on the same team as Colin Corkery all the way up with the club and on the Cork minors and U-21s as well and another uncle played for the Cork hurling U-21s.

Q: There are two Alan Cronins on the Nemo Rangers team, Alan Cronin Snr and Alan Cronin Jnr, is Junior your brother?

**A: **Yeah, Alan Cronin Junior is my older brother and we're no relation to Alan Cronin senior or his brother Martin.

Q: How many years are between you and Alan?

A: Alan was 24 last month, and I'm 21 in October.

Q: Have you any other brothers?

**A: **We do, yeah. We've a 16-year-old brother too, Mark, and a lot of fellas would say he's the only one of us who can actually kick a football! He's a forward and is actually playing in a school's final this week with Coláiste Chriost Rí so he seems to be doing well.

Q: Had you much success at underage level with Nemo Rangers?

A: We didn't win a single Championship game underage until U-16! We one won game in that grade and we didn't win a game at all then in the minor grade in my own age-group. But then when we hit the U-21 grade we never lost a game.

Q: Is that not a bit unusual?

A: Yeah, I don't know what the story is, but we were probably a bit small and slow to develop, but we seemed to come together in the U-21 grade.

Q: Is that something to do with the culture of the club? That despite only winning one game from underage level right up to minor, you never lost belief and were suddenly able to flick a switch and start winning in the U-21 grade?

**A: **I think so. You see, the 'Nemo way' has always been to give fellas equal game-time at underage level. You could be playing in the middle of the field and you're being beaten by 20 points and you're looking around and half the team is being substituted. But the idea is to bring on fellas and give them a chance to learn too and I suppose it pays off in the long-run.

We've a lot of fellas who have played senior, like, Dylan Mehigan has played senior for 15 years, and he never played on an 'A' underage team growing up. We've another fella, Jack Horgan, he's the same. It probably pays off long-term, but it's frustrating when you're not winning any games at underage and you're going back into school on the Monday and you're getting slagged by the lads from other clubs that beat you.

Q: Has that philosophy of putting participation before winning at underage always been a part of the club’s culture?

**A: **Yeah, every player gets an equal game-time right up until U-16 level so everyone gets the same amount of football and opportunity to develop. It works a bit like the way they've changed underage football where you can only have one solo and one hop before you have to use the ball. That way everyone is getting more touches of the ball. That same sort of thinking has been the way in Nemo Rangers for a long time.

Q: Were there games where you were taken off when you were playing well? Or close games where a star player was taken off and it turned the game against you? That must have been frustrating for a young lad?

**A: **100 per cent! It didn't matter what the score was, you had your equal playing time sort of a thing. You might get a half and you'd be frustrated and going home mad and giving out to your parents. It used to drive me mental! I was going to school up where a lot of the Douglas fellas were and we'd play them and you'd get a hammering off them so it would drive you mental going into school to face them all time and time again.

Q: I suppose it all paid off in the end, though?

A: Yeah, definitely, I think it has paid off. Hindsight is a great thing. Looking back on it now it definitely has paid off. If I was to manage a team you'd definitely be going down that route with an underage team. Even with the senior team last year we have a lot of fellas who were around the same age who have come through that system.

Q: Is it fair to say there is also a Nemo Rangers brand of football? A traditional catch and kick, attacking style of play?

**A: **Yeah, I think so. We never would be a club for packing defences or playing sweepers or that. I suppose people associate us in Cork as playing a good brand of football, always exciting. And we kind of pride ourselves on it. We have fellas like Luke Connolly, James Masters, Paul Kerrigan. They're all exciting players, they're the fellas that are given the licence to do that with the club and I think that's a big thing, that you are given the licence to try stuff.

Q: What have you won with the club at U-21 and senior level?

A: In the last six years there have been five U-21 city titles, and we're playing in a sixth final in two weeks time. It's nearly the same in County U-21 titles. Since 2010 we've only won one county senior title, and that was last year. That was the big one because we weren't expected to get near that in a way. 

Ballincollig beat us in 2014, Castlehaven beat us the year before. We were constantly being beaten by teams that won it which was frustrating, but I suppose it's a sign of how strong the club championships are in Cork. We had a tough few years, but hopefully now it's starting to come good again.

Q: There’s clearly a very talented generation coming through, so?

A: Yeah, I think so. The likes of Tomás Ó Sé and James Masters are thinking of taking a step back this year, so there will be an even greater chance for young fellas now. We were only looking at a picture of a county U-21 Championship we won in 2013, and 13 of that team have already played senior championship. So I think shows you that we a lot of young talent. But it's still hugely important to have experienced players like Paul Kerrigan that the young players can learn from. There's a bit of a gap between Paul Kerrigan and my brother who is 24, and most of the rest of the team are under 24.

Q: I presume you would have really looked up to guys like Tomás Ó Sé and James Masters in particular when you broke through first?

A: Oh, definitely. When we were young the three players we always picked out as being the fellas to watch were Tomás, Marc (Ó Sé), and Michael Shields. And I got to learn off Michael Shields last year and again this year (with Cork). Marc, i've been studying from afar. And to get to be in the same dressing-room with Tomás has been unbelievable. I actually played a game last year where we had Tomás Ó Sé playing and then Stephen O'Brien also came on for us because we were short. So fellas got to play on the same pitch as the two of them, which was a big deal really. Even my first time going down training for the first time with the seniors and I was marking James Masters. I nearly wanted to turn around and ask him for an autograph! And then I was looking through an autograph book a few weeks later and I had James Masters' autograph, Colin Corkery, who's now our selector, I have his autograph too in it! I have half of Nemo's autograph nearly at this stage!

Q: Was it surreal to play with them so?

A: Yeah, but it's what you'd be aiming for from a young age.

Q: Having gone since 2010 without winning the title, to win it last year must have meant a huge deal?

**A: **I've never seen scenes like it, to be honest. I wasn't even playing then, I was still  injured. It was just massive. To see grown men crying...because it had been so long. Six years might not seem that long to some teams, but to a club like Nemo it's an eternity when you're trying to follow in the foot-steps of other fellas. Yeah, it was huge. Hopefully it's a massive step forward for the club in terms of getting back up to where we want to be.

Q: The injury you referred to, a broken leg, did the club rally around you afterwards?

A: Yeah, the club were very good to me. I probably turned into my own shell a small bit and the kept dragging me out of the house and kept getting me going to stuff. They were getting me to go to the games and keeping me involved, and that was a huge thing. You only realise how important a community is when you're not fully involved in it. Yeah, definitely, I have a lot to thank Nemo for. Not just for what they did for me around that time, but in general. They were especially good throughout the injury, though. They provided a lot of facilities because when Páirc Ui Chaoimh was being demolished we didn't have a gym to work in with the physio. Nemo provided that.

Q: Just how bad was the injury?

A: I broke both bones in the leg, the tibia and fibula. It wasn't too bad, it didn't damage any ligaments so I was lucky in that sense.

**Q: That’s a glass half-full attitude! **

A: It took me a while to get there!

Q: When you say Nemo helped with your rehab, it must have been handy that the club has such state of the art facilities?

A: Yeah, I think we sold our pitch at a good time and got a good deal on it. The facilities are top quality. Some of it was sinking originally, but they fixed that by putting more money into it. The people higher up in the club do see where money needs to be spent and they always try hard to put it into those places. But we're like most clubs in that we don't have a whole load of money to spend. The fact that they're making the most of it is a big thing. We have four very good pitches, we have an astro, an indoor astro, and they're after putting in a gym so we're lucky in that regard.

Q: Nemo Rangers have been incredibly successful, is it fair to say the club is well set-up to continue in that vein?

A: Yeah, hopefully. This year's club championship will tell a lot. It's a lot harder to win a second one than it is to win the first one. So they say anyway. But we can only give it our best and see how the year goes on.

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