GAELIC GAMES/ALL-IRELAND CLUB FOOTBALL AND HURLING FINALS/St Vincent's 1-11 Nemo Rangers 0-13:AT THE END of a match that despite itself went down to the wire, the Andy Merrigan Cup eventually ended up making one of its shortest possible journeys, over to St Vincent's clubhouse in Marino.
It didn't seem humanly possible in the arctic temperatures that have become part of the tradition at Croke Park on St Patrick's Day but yesterday's AIB All-Ireland club football final ended in a bit of a sweat.
Having controlled the match for three quarters of the hour, the Dublin champions lost the initiative with almost catastrophic consequences. Nemo, whose bumbling and fumbling had contributed greatly to their plight, suddenly found a vein of form and reeled the match back to within touching distance at 0-10 to 1-8.
And, against all odds the perished crowd - 31,246 in total - had a match on their hands.
In a gripping finale, however, Nemo weren't able to close the gap, showcasing the stark truth that comebacks don't really count unless they go all the way.
The point where Nemo's momentum ran out of gas came in the space of about 60 seconds between the 49th and 50th minute when, after a scorching sequence of five points in six minutes, team marksman James Masters uncharacteristically sent a free wide.
Almost immediately Alan Cronin gave away the ball in the middle and kick-started a move that culminated in a point for Tomás Quinn, whose predatory finishing was critical to the winners' second-half survival. Instead of being level the Cork champions trailed by two and although in the remaining 10 minutes they got the margin again down to the minimum that was with virtually the last kick of the match.
Vincent's deserved to win. They buckled into the match and took control from the very start. As in the semi-final win over Crossmaglen, they swarmed forward and patiently took chances, gradually opening up a four-point lead.
Complicating matters for Nemo was that, strangely for a club in its fourth final this decade, they looked nervous and almost panicky. Masters missed a kickable free in the first minute and thereafter while under the hammer, their defence made a series of errors - losing the ball in possession, over-running it and generally ill-at-ease in their play.
In another echo of the semi-final, Michael O'Shea was lording the middle of the field for Vincent's and carrying the ball forward with purpose: setting up, for example Diarmuid Connolly's point in the 12th minute.
Nemo's jittery demeanour wasn't helped when three minutes later David Kearney, one on one with Michael Savage after a brilliant kick-pass from Masters, saw the Vincent's goalkeeper make a crucial intervention to smother the ball.
Dylan Mehigan was whistled up for over-holding after an otherwise penetrative solo run before fisting the opening point for Nemo as late as the 17th minute.
Yet Nemo continued to make things difficult for themselves when Martin Cronin, who was struggling to contain Tiernan Diamond, had the ball whipped off him when carrying it out from defence - an error that ended in another pointed free for Quinn.
Nemo would have found the three-point deficit on 20 minutes, 0-2 to 0-5, tolerable had the match not lurched farther away from them two minutes later.
The only goal of the match came from a ball lofted in by Diamond. Quinn got a touch on it to send in Connolly whose finish was calmly-taken and accurate.
Four points were shared before half-time at which stage the Dublin side had an impregnable looking six-point lead, 1-7 to 0-4.
Nemo's cause hadn't been helped by a clash of heads with Hugh Coghlan that injured influential midfielder Peter Morgan early in the match. At the break he had to be replaced.
Shortly after the break Brian Maloney should have done better for Vincent's than putting a goal chance wide after turning Darragh Breen. But to their credit, out of somewhere Nemo found a response and Alan Cronin fired a quick pair of points and Masters, now beginning seriously to orchestrate the Nemo attack, added two more.
Now there was movement up front. Paul Kerrigan was able to use his pace on the ball and Mehigan's height became a matter of concern, highlighted when his fisted connection on a lob from Masters hit the bar before bouncing over.
But the margin wouldn't disappear and Vincent's coolly sniped their chances to stretch the lead to three with frees from Quinn and Connolly. Nemo still chased and Masters swung over two frees in reply but they never caught up.
ST VINCENT'S: M Savage; P Conlon, E Brady, H Gill; T Doyle, G Brennan, P Kelly; H Coghlan (0-1), M O'Shea; K Golden, T Diamond (0-1), D Connolly (1-2, one point free); B Maloney, P Gilroy, T Quinn (0-7, five frees). Subs: R Trainor for Gilroy (43 mins), C Brady for Coghlan (49 mins), R Fallon for Gill (59 mins), W Lowry for Golden (60 mins).
NEMO RANGERS: B Morgan; N Geary, D Kavanagh, D Breen; B O'Regan, M Cronin, G Ó Sé; P Morgan, M McCarthy; R Kenny, A Cronin (0-2), D Mehigan (0-2); D Kearney (0-1), J Masters (0-7, three frees), P Kerrigan (0-1, free). Subs: S O'Brien for Kenny (30 mins), D Niblock for P Morgan (half-time), C O'Brien for O'Shea (half-time), B O'Driscoll for Cronin (53 mins).
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).
