Lancashire 2-22 Fermanagh 0-15 Cork native Ronan Crowley was on fire for Lancashire as they emerged with their first ever win in the Lory Meagher cup over visiting Fermanagh.

Crowley hit 2-05 in a pulsating first half of hurling with both his goals coming in a vital ten minute period before the break.

The teams were evenly matched in that first half with only Crowley’s goals giving the home side some breathing space.

The pacy forward was to finish the game with 2-14 as he displayed the full repertoire of his skills.

Any chance of a Fermanagh comeback were quashed in the opening twenty minutes of the second half as Lancashire went on the front foot to outscore the Ernemne 0-08 to 0-03.

The game finished with the exiles winning by 13 points.

Fermanagh will know that they have to bounce back this weekend against Warwickshire who are unbeaten in their two games to date.

Another loss will all but finish any hopes they have of reaching the Croke Park decider.

“It is knock out hurling for us now,” explained their manager Sean Duffy after the game before adding; “We can’t afford to lose any more games and expect to qualify so we know what we have ahead of us now.

“Thankfully though the game is at Brewster Park which should give us a bit of a lift.”

On the loss to Lancashire Duffy didn’t want to make any excuses; “We just did not get going at all. They played the best hurling and they deserved their win.

“People might point to the travelling that we had but we won’t be using that as an excuse, we just could not get going at all and that is why we lost the game.”

Fermanagh had played some good hurling in the first half with full back Matty Teague twice getting forward to split the posts.

Sean Corrigan was also on target along with Shea Curran, Declan McGarry and John Duffy.

Fermanagh had good performances from Matty Teague in defence with David Teague also impressing when he was moved back to the rearguard.

Ultimately though it was those two goals from Crowley that gave his side the platform for the win and he was ably supported throughout by Nathan Unwin at wing half back while Darragh O’Brien, David Cahalane were tidy in attack.

Vincent Morrisey in the Lancashire goal was cool under pressure on a number of occasions as his side sealed a momentous win.

The Lisbellaw man was impressed with what he saw from the exiles however; “To be fair to Lancashire they are a very good team. They have good players all over and they played very well.

“They had a number 12 (Crowley) from Cork and he is as good a hurler as we have ever come across.”

The Ernemen will have another fine hurler to contend with this weekend in the shape of former Antrim star Liam ‘Winker’ Watson.

When Warwickshire and Fermanagh met in the league earlier this season at Brewster Park he was the difference between the sides.

“We will have to keep a close eye on him but we have a plan that we are going to try and put into place.

“At this stage it is win or nothing for us so we have to go out and hurl to our best,” Duffy concluded.