Luke Connolly struck two second-half goals as Nemo Rangers defeated Castlehaven by 3-7 to 0-13 this afternoon to land their 22nd Cork senior football championship crown.

In front of 2,423 spectators at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Nemo made their goals count in this postponed county final from last year – taking place 329 days after the competition’s semi-finals.

With both teams having waited some 11 months for this decider to finally take place, it was the holders that made an electric start as Ciaran Dalton’s goal had them 1-2 to nothing in front after seven minutes.

Castlehaven’s attack was speared-headed by Brian Hurley (0-8) and his frees helped to bring them back into contention after the early goal from Dalton, who replaced the injured Mark Cronin after just four minutes.

Nemo were outscored by 0-5 to 0-1 from the 10th minute up to the break but still went in leading by two (1-5 to 0-6).

It took eight minutes of the restart for Connolly to find the back of the challengers’ net, after being fed through by Paul Kerrigan, and when he netted again eight minutes later, Nemo were five to the good come the second water break.

Castlehaven cut the difference down to three come the second minute of injury-time but couldn’t get the goal they needed, as Nemo secured back-to-back titles for the first time since 2008.

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