Nemo coping with life after Corkery

Munster club football final: Colin Corkery is gone. The wheels turn so quickly nowadays that nobody really noticed. Cork picked themselves up this summer and so have Nemo Rangers. Although one of the most gifted footballers of his generation, neither have a use for him anymore.

He was never going to battle on like a Kieran McGeeney or a Munster version of Mickey Linden. The body wasn't looked after enough.

Having slipped off the national radar after the watershed defeat to Fermanagh in 2004, for a time, at least, Corkery had the club to embrace him.

When the dust eventually settles he will always have Nemo. And they will always have 1989, 1994 and of course 2003 when he led the club to victory over Crossmolina on St Patrick's Day. He will always have aches in his bones too. The swansong came last October when he played the last seven minutes of their 15th county final victory, this time over Muskerry. Over 6,015 folk were there to say goodbye. Aged 34, the boots were put away.

Nemo keep on moving. On Sunday they seek their 13th Munster crown with St Senan's of Kilkee the only barrier.

Corkery is realistic about his non-imvolvement. "You can't go on forever. You just get to a stage where it's over. Because I didn't win an All-Ireland (with Cork) people were saying you should go another year but it wasn't meant to be so there is no point in beating a dead horse. It was time to go and I'm glad I went at the time I did."

There wasn't one problem, rather a succession of creaking joints. "The problem with my injuries was that I wasn't able to train all the time, you know? Getting fit was the problem. There was no way I was going to make it. I was on the physio table more times than I was out on the field. It wasn't enjoyable either."

He went to watch Nemo train last week. Not because he couldn't stay away mind; his son Cormac plays indoor hurling in the club on Friday nights. Football on Sundays, of course.

With the immense midfield presence of Derek Kavanagh off in Australia and full back Niall Geary unlikely to recover from a knee injury, a ray of hope is shining on St Senan's this Sunday. Has any club sufficient depth to survive such absentees?

"Definitely. In the last three years we have won two intermediate county finals. Our under-21s have won in the county and our minors have been in finals as well. There is a conveyor belt there and these players are blending in as well."

So how does the current team sit beside the All-Ireland club winning sides Corkery played on?

"It's different as we have done a lot of rebuilding. The Stephen O'Briens, the Kevin Cahills, the Larry Kavanaghs and a few others retired. I'm gone now as well. So that's five or six of the nucleus. A few young lads had to come in so it took nearly two years to get things going again. But the guys who replaced them were just as good and they seem to be getting there now."

Of the new blood, James Masters is the ace in the pack. The 2000 All-Ireland winning minor captain has waited patiently for his chance. Masters only broke into the Nemo team in 2004. Now he is filling the shoes vacated by Corkery at club and county level.

"I think James has the potential to be whatever he wants to be. I think he is getting there but still needs to work at his own game. Certainly, he is in the top 10 forwards in the country.

"A few times he has asked for a bit of help, especially the free-taking. I went out with him last year before Cork and Nemo games and was doing a few things with him. He is one of these guys that once he gets it right, gets a bit of form, I think he's going to be a sensation.

"Brian O'Regan is probably another one who is going to step up for Cork next year. He's a wing back. Probably the closest guy I've seen to a Stephen O'Brien."

Corkery knows St Senan's trainer Noel Roche from his playing days. Roche will send an organised, eager team into battle at the Gaelic Grounds, leaving no room for complacency.

"That's one thing about Nemo; we don't expect anything. You have to go out and earn it. I know we apply ourselves well and we never underestimate teams. That's the only way we can go about our business. Looking ahead is not talked about in Nemo." Neither is the past.