Fermanagh 0-10 Down 1-04

Fermanagh secured their place in the Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship semi-final with a deserved three-point victory over Down at Brewster Park this afternoon.

A strong second quarter had pushed Fermanagh five clear at half time, 0-07 to 0-02, and although Down did grab a goal early in the second half, Fermanagh regained the upper hand to go on and seal the win.

The opening spell of the game was well contested with Fermanagh going into the water break with a 0-03 to 0-02 lead.

Ronan McCaffrey (2) and Conall Boyle registered for Fermanagh while Zach Murdock and Niall Toner notched the Down points during this period.

However, Fermanagh were to take a grip on matters when the game resumed. Down lost Oran Cunningham to a black card and Fermanagh made their numerical advantage tell as they hit four points in a row to move five clear.

Ronan McGovern (2), Conor McGovern and the excellent Fionan O'Brien grabbed the points to leave it 0-07 to 0-02 at half time.

Down though did get off the best possible start to the second half as Toner gained possession on the left and raced in on goal before firing past Ross Bogue in the Fermanagh goal.

However, Fermanagh found the perfect response to this set back as O'Brien converted a free before Cillian Murray got on the scoresheet with a point from play to push them back out to a four point lead, 0-09 to 1-02.

Oisin Savage and O'Brien then swapped points before Down were reduced to 14 as Tony McCartan was red carded.

Another Savage free then cut the deficit back to three points and it required a good save by Ross Bogue to deny Down a goal with five minutes left on the clock.

Down did see plenty of the ball in the latter stages but they could find no way through a well drilled Erne defence with Fermanagh able to see out the remainder of the tie to claim the win and their spot in the last four where they will face Monaghan.