Fermanagh hopes still alive after win

Published 18 Jun 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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Cavan 2-09; Fermanagh 2-15;

Lory Meagher Cup; Fermanagh kept alive their Lory Meagher Cup hopes on Saturday as they left Breffni Park with a well deserved six point victory over Cavan to set up a quarter final meeting with Donegal in Brewster Park on Sunday (3.30pm).

After losing their opening game in the competition to Leitrim a week ago, Fermanagh made the worst possible start to Saturday"s clash with Cavan as they conceded six unanswered points. However, the management will have been delighted to the response to this as the away side rattled off 1-08 without reply before Cavan pulled a goal back late in the half.

And Fermanagh had the better of the play in the second half to secure their passage through to the quarter-finals.

Fermanagh trainer Fabian Burns was pleased with the performance of the side but expects a tougher test at Brewster Park on Sunday.

'It was a really good team performance. We were six points down after 10 or 12 minutes but the boys showed great character to bounce back from that and hit 1-08 without reply. Cavan brought a physical edge to the game but are boys stood up to it and worked hard as a team when are backs were to the wall. We"re going to need much more of that though on Sunday as Donegal are a very good side. We need to take things up to the next level but I know that we are well capable of that and if we can do that then we have nothing to fear from anybody,' he said.

Fermanagh, who were missing regulars Ryan Bogue, Karl Kehoe, Francie McBrien and Barry Smyth, got off to a terrible opening to the game as Cavan dominated the first quarter of the contest. It was all one way traffic from the start as Cavan banged over score for score. Paul Sheridan accounted for all six of Cavan"s points during this spell, five of which came from play, as the home side took control.

After this lack lustre start though Fermanagh finally began to settle into their game and they went on to hit a very productive purple patch that yielded 1-08 without response from Cavan.

Sean Corrigan, who top scored for Fermanagh with eight points, clipped over the Erne men"s opening point of the day which was followed by a flurry of scores over the next ten minutes.

Declan McGarry drove forward from midfield to knock over the next two points before Corrigan rattled over three consecutive points from play to level the contest.

Dermot Curran and Corrigan then tagged on further points to edge Fermanagh into a two point lead before Andrew Breslin blasted to the net to make it 1-08 to 0-06.

A shell shocked Cavan got back to scoring ways with a goal from Edward Dalton but Declan McGarry lofted over his third point of the day to give Fermanagh a three point lead at the break, 1-09 to 1-06.

Cavan reduced the deficit to two points on the resumption with another Sheridan point but the excellent McGarry replied with a point for Fermanagh before David Slevin fired in a brilliantly goal to push Fermanagh into a six point advantage early in the first half.

Corrigan further added to the lead with a converted free to make it 2-11 to 1-07 before Sheridan notched a couple of points for Cavan and as tempers flared the referee flashed four red cards, three to Cavan and one to Fermanagh"s Eamon Gunn.

Fermanagh defended resolutely after this with Pter McEvoy in goals making a couple of good stops before Corrigan (3) and Brendan McGarry fired over the points that made sure of the victory.

Late on Cavan"s Mark McEntee hit the back of the net but it was merely a consolation score as Fermanagh finished up six point victors.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Jun 09

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