On Sunday morning White’s Cross will play Nemo Rangers in the semi-final of the City Division Junior A football championship in Ballinlough. It is our first time back at this stage since 2017 where we also happened to play, and defeat, our Trabeg-based opponents.
It has not been all that common, over the past 40 years, for White’s Cross to play in A grade football championship semi-finals. This is our ninth such occasion that we have contested the penultimate stage of the competition. Of the previous eight semi-finals; three of them have been against Nemo Rangers.
While it might be stretch to say that we have a good record in championship football against the Turner’s Cross lads; at the semi-final stage, things have worked out very much in our favour.
White’s Cross played Nemo in two successive years -2009 and 2010 – in semi-finals. At that time Nemo had a whole host of former and (then) future inter-county players such as Joe Kavanagh, John Paul O’Neill, Garry Murphy, David Niblock, Luke Connolly, Mick Daly and Kevin Fulignati. However, as good as they were, and they were very good, at this time White’s Cross was enjoying its most successful stint ever and we were more than a match for any team around at that time.
The games were close though. In 2009 it took a point from play from midfielder Denis O’Regan to ensure White’s Cross made it to the final by the narrowest of margins on a 0-10 to 0-09 scoreline. Over the hour we deserved the win. Eoin Murnane at center-back and current coach Murt Kelleher drove on White’s Cross that day. Points from Edwin Buckley had put us in the driving seat with with fifteen minutes to go but three frees from Nemo levelled things up and it looked like we might rue the fact that we had kicked 14 wides over the hour; Denis O’Regan’s intervention ensured we deservedly won the day.
O’Regan went from hero in 2009 to, almost, the villain in 2010 when, in a repeat semi-final, he received a red-card (a second yellow which was very harsh) early in the second-half. The game proved to be a real test of character of our lads and a superb Donncha Murnane goal was the kickstart that they needed. Late points from current selector Kevin Buckley and his brother Conor saw White’s Cross win on a 1-10 to 1-07 scoreline.
Seven years passed between our next meeting in 2017. Nobody really foresaw the final score in this match as White’s Cross won 2-15 0-07. On that day, everything went right for White’s Cross team which was powered by younger players such as Killian Ryan and Robert McElhinney and things did not go well for what looked to be a strong Nemo team.
A similar scoreline and result would obviously be very welcome on Sunday, however, we certainly do not expect that scoreline to repeat itself . In truth, the final score is more likely to resemble the 2009 contest. Semi-finals are for winning as both teams know. If we are the ones lucky enough to come out the right side of a one point win and it means that, for the likes of Murt, Kevin, Conor, Edwin, Dylan, Killian and others, we can keep our positive run going in semi-finals against this opponent then we’ll take it and we’ll be more than happy! Crosaire an Fhaoitigh abu!
