Managers critical of format as Devenish survive

Devenish secured their Division One status with a comfortable eight point win over Maguiresbridge in an encounter that they were in control of for the majority of the game.
A Matthew Teague goal for the Bridge did briefly give his side the lead in the first half but Devenish came back and showed admirable determination to ensure that they would be playing Division One football next season.
For their manager, Malachy Cullen, it was a case of relief mixed with frustration;
“A man is breathing a bit easier now,” he said. 
“It is a difficult place to be standing with the trap-door of relegation staring you in the face but we had to go out there and do a job and make sure we performed well. 
“We were very poor the previous week against Belcoo and we knew any repeat of that would land us in big trouble. Although I don’t think with 17 points in the league we should have had to fight for division one survival.”
Devenish finished fourth from bottom in division one and under the new rules it meant they were in danger of relegation despite finishing 13 points ahead of bottom club Tempo.
“I think the whole thing was a little silly and I think maybe people are overthinking things. 
“I have to say as well I feel very sorry for St Pat’s. They finished top of Division Two but in the end didn’t get promoted.”
His counterpart in the Bridge dugout, Niall Jackman, was similarly unimpressed with the format and again alluded to the plight of St Pats.
“I think the whole thing is mind boggling. 
“To be honest most neutrals are probably happy that it was ourselves and Tempo who were relegated as we finished in the bottom two after 18 games. 
“The league table doesn’t lie and what happened to St Pats is just not right and I think people who voted in the changes need to have a look at things again,” he stated before going on to say that his side could have no excuses with the result against Devenish;
“We had done well the previous week to beat Tempo and I thought we had a good chance coming in to this game but we just did not perform at all which was disappointing. 
“Division Two is not where we wanted to be as a group of players but there is a good enough squad to come back up.”
The game itself saw a John O’Flanagan penalty in the first half put Devenish right back in charge and by the time the half time whistle arrived they were leading by six points on a score of 1-07 to 1-01. 
Point scorers for Devenish included the O’Flanagan boys, Terry and John along with Barry Mulrone who was once again operating in the full forward line.
The same protagonists were on the scoresheet in the second half for the winners with Daniel Teague and Rory Porteous providing some resistance at the other end. 
In a stretched Bridge rearguard Ciaran Corrigan and John Duffy caught the eye while in a Devenish defence that was never under serious pressure Marty O’Brien and Anthony McGuinness were impressive.