Kinawley 0-13

Newtownbutler 0-04

Kinawley retained their Fermanagh Senior Football Championship title with a 0-13 to 0-04 victory over Newtownbutler in Derrygonnelly on Saturday.

The Brian Borus entered the game as strong favourites but Newtown more than held their own in the early exchanges with the sides level at 0-02 apiece by the end of the first quarter.

However, Kinawley found their stride after this and landed a number of scores over the remainder of the half to go in at the break leading 0-06 to 0-03.

And they went on to pull further clear after the break with Joanne Doonan and Danielle Maguire among the scores as they finished up nine point victors.

Manager Kevin Gilleece was delighted with his side’s display.

“It was a very pleasing win,” he said. “It was a tight, tough battle and there was very little between the sides in the first half but I think our fitness told in the second half. Defensively, we were very good after half time and we then caused them problems when we broke at pace,” he said.

Ulster is next on the horizon for this ambitious Kinawley outfit and they face a quick turnaround with an Ulster Intermediate Championship meeting with Tyrone champions Killeeshil coming up this Saturday in Kinawley at 2pm.

“We would expect them to be a good side but we want to give Ulster a good rattle. Hopefully, we can play as well as we can and get through,” he added.

Newtown had began the contest brightly enough and Shannen Courtney landed the opening point of the game for the First Fermanaghs before Doonan and Claire Mullaney traded points to leave Newtown 0-02 to 0-01 ahead after six minutes.

Kinawley though began to settle into their game after this and they went on to rattle off the next five points to open up a four point gap.

Doonan and Danielle Maguire both registered points from play for the Brian Borus before Doonan then tagged on another two scores, one from a free and one from play.

When Niamh McManus then chipped in with a point it made it 0-06 to 0-02 to Kinawley.

Mullaney did hit back with a point for Newtown but at the break it was Kinawley who held a three point advantage.

And they went on to build on that in the second half with Doonan firing over the opening three points of the half to stretch their lead out to six points, 0-09 to 0-03.

The scores continued to come for Kinawley throughout the half with Danielle Maguire rattloing over two scores while Roisin O’Reilly and Doonan also added points to make it 0-13 to 0-03.

Shannen Courtney did knock over the last score of the game for Newtownbutler but this was just a consolation score with Kinawley finishing up 0-13 to 0-04 winners on the day.