History of Nemo Rangers H.& F. Club
The story of Nemo Rangers Hurling & Football Club can be traced to before the start of the last century when in 1893 Rangers took part in the juvenile football championship. The origins of the ‘Nemo ‘ side of the club has a unique story and begins around 1910 when the name ‘Nemo ‘ meaning ‘ nobodies’ was given to a group of North Monastery pupils who wished to play our national games and were outlawed by their rugby playing fellow students. Pupils from the Turners Cross - South Parish area adopted the name and formed the Nemo club in 1915. A worked out quarry at the top of Windmill Rd., site of the present Coláiste Chrost Ri, was the local pitch and a breeding ground for many famous players.
Membership of both clubs fell in the early twenties and so they agreed to amalgamate in 1922 as Nemo Rangers, going on to record a unique County Intermediate Hurling & Football Championship double in 1928. During the thirties the present Turners Cross Soccer Ground was the club’s home but a combination of emigration and unemployment saw the Club withdraw from competitive games during the war years of the early forties. Nemo Rangers re- emerged in 1946 stronger and with a vibrant juvenile structure.
Successive under age and minor victories laid the foundation for successful adult teams including the winning of the County Junior Football Title in 1957 and a record breaking five City Junior Hurling Titles in a row from 1960 to 1964.
The next important milestone was the acquiring of land at South Douglas Rd. in the early seventies as a home base and this was celebrated with the winning of the club’s first County Senior Football Title in 1972. They continued the following year to become the first club from Leeside to capture the All Ireland Club title. The Club’s greatest era now beckoned and they have gone on to dominate the county senior football championship in the last decades winning their sixteenth title in 2007. Fourteen Munster Club titles and seven All Ireland Club pennants has made them the kingpins of club football throughout the land. The County Junior Hurling Championship win of 2000 was a further major achievement after many fruitless years with the caman.
Nemo has provided a host of successful players to county teams including two senior All Ireland winning captains in former Cork team coach Billy Morgan and Denis Allen as well as All Stars like Brian Murphy, Frank Cogan, Stephen O’Brien, Jimmy Kerrigan, Shea Fahy, Colin Corkery and Joe Kavanagh.
The late eighties saw the club acquire land off the South Ring Road for pitches at Trabeg. A major club decision was made in the start of the new millennium when it was agreed that these lands should be further developed to become the club’s new home base. This culminated with the opening of the new club complex in 2006. This incorporates four full size playing pitches, large floodlit synthetic grass pitch, modern pavilion with bars, function room, meeting rooms, full gymnasium and indoor hurling hall. This has propelled the club into the new millennium and signals a confidence in the future and a continuing on of the club’s great tradition.
