Fermanagh 1-11 Cavan 2-11

 

Fermanagh remain in the relegation battle at the bottom of the Division Two table following a 1-11 to 2-11 loss to neighbours Cavan at Brewster Park this evening.

The visitors bagged two second half goals which ultimately proved decisive in the contest and manager Ryan McMenamin will be disappointed with the nature of the goals, both coming from high balls played in on top of the Fermanagh goal-mouth.

And at the other end, the home side's wastefulness in front of the posts was once again a problem with Fermanagh registering 12 wides compared to only three by a much more economic Breffni outfit.

The game had got off to the perfect start for Fermanagh when a sweeping move involving Shane McGullion, Aidan Breen and Kevin McDonnell resulted in Ultan Kelm tucking the ball to the net from close range.

Cavan though answered with the next five points including three from Gearoid McKiernan and scores from Oisin Kiernan and an Oisin Pierson free.

The switch of Che Cullen on to McKiernan helped curb the Cavan attackers influence on the contest and Fermanagh had the better of the remainder of the half.

Conall Jones clipped over two frees to level things up before Cavan had Evan Doughty blackcarded.

An Aidan Breen point then edged Fermanagh ahead on the half hour mark but Cavan replied with an excellent Pierson effort from the left hand side.

A Chris Conroy point from a mark then put Cavan one up but Fermangh finished the half the stronger with the impressive Ciaran Corrigan and Ryan Jones tagging on scores to leave it 1-05 to 0-07 at the break.

Fermangh made it three points in a row when Shane McGullion fired over at the start of the second period but Cavan answered with a point from Thomas Galligan before the Ernemen then lost Stephen McGullion to a black card.

With Fermangh down to 14 men for ten minutes, Cavan took advantage to get their noses in front as Kiernan clipped over a free before Padraig Faulkner plundered the away side's first goal as he beat goalkeeper McGrath to a high ball to punch to the net and make it 1-06 to 1-09.

Ryan Jones did reply with a point for Fermanagh while the home side felt that they had a strong shout for a penalty when Ciaran Corrigan appeared to be dragged down off the ball.

Instead, they were to be hit with a second Cavan goal as another long ball was not dealt with by McGrath and it left Galligan in the simple task of tapping to the unguarded net to leave it 1-07 to 2-09.

Fermanagh did continue to battle over the remainder of the half with Corrigan hitting two points from play and Eoin McManus clipping over two frees but with McKiernan adding two points for Cavan it kept a cushion between the sides.

And try as they may, Fermanagh could not engineer the goal they needed as Cavan saw out the game to secure a 1-11 to 2-11 win.

 

Fermanagh: J McGrath; J Cassidy, C Cullen, K McDonnell; D McCusker, R O'Callaghan, S McGullion (0-1); E Donnelly, R Jones (0-2); A Breen (0-1), U Kelm (1-0), C Corrigan (0-3); S McGullion. C Jones (0-2, 2f), J McMahon.

Subs - D McGurn for Strephen McGullion (55), D Teague for McCusker (56), E McManus (0-02, 2f)for C Jones (63), E Shiels for McDonnell (65)

 

Cavan: R Galligan; C Madden, P Faulkner (1-0), K Brady; G Smith, C Brady, O Kiernan (0-2); T Galligan (1-1), C Conroy (0-1); E Doughty, G McKiernan (0-5, 1m), M Reilly; O Pierson (0-2, 1f), J Smith, B Magee.

Subs: S Murray for Doughty (42), L Fortune for Magee (50), R Connolly for O Pierson (55), B Kelly for Madden (61), L Buchanan for J Smith (73)