Fermanagh hurlers begin new year with dominant win

The Ernemen travelled to Kingspan Breffni Park on Tuesday evening to take on Cavan and the game was over as a contest by half time with Fermanagh holding an 18-point lead.

Fermanagh were the slicker outfit - their skills, movement, intensity in the tackle and gameplan well ahead of Cavan’s who apart from a purple patch in the second half, never really threatened.

The tempo was set after just 16 seconds when Luca McCusker fired over the first of his eight points.

Cavan did respond with a Canice Maher free shortly after but Fermanagh then took complete control.

Good work by Caolan Duffy and Tom Keenan allowed Dannan McKeogh to point before McCusker would hit five of the next six points, a mixture of scores from play and a free to leave it 0-08 to 0-01 after 11 minutes. Brian Teehan would also get on the scoreboard.

Fermanagh were showing a real tenacity in their play, whether that was with the sliotar in hand or when they were working to win possession back, and they had willing runners in their full forward line in Keenan, McKeogh and Jimmy Tormey who were winning plenty of ball.

The next score came after good work from Ciaran Duffy turned over possession and it allowed McKeogh to register his second point which was then followed by a Caolan Duffy score.

18 minutes after their first score, Maher knocked over another free for Cavan, but Fermanagh responded with a Teehan effort.

And it was the same again when Jack Barry drilled over for the home side before McCusker converted a free, 0-12 to 0-04 with 10 minutes to play of the half.

It was in this period that the game got away from Cavan altogether.

A sideline cut from Ryan Bogue was well taken by Teehan and he sidestepped his man before finding the net.

John Duffy then drilled over a point after another turnover.

Tormey found the net from a tight angle, followed by a Teehan rocket with the Fermanagh scoring rounded off by a McCusker point.

Cavan had a sole reply from Nicky Kenny, however, Fermanagh had their goalkeeper, Mark Curry to thank as he made three brilliant saves in quick succession as the half ended 3-14 to 0-05.

The second half started like the first as within 25 seconds Fermanagh had the sliotar over the bar courtesy of Tormey, but it would be Cavan that would begin to boss proceedings.

Half-time substitute Dylan Mulligan hit a good score on the run and this was followed by three long-range frees from centre-back Liam O’Brien.

Brian Fitzgerald would get another point from play for Cavan as Fermanagh struggled to get a grip on the game.

Another O’Brien free was converted before Fermanagh eventually got back on the board in the 53rd minute when McKeogh reacted quickest to a shot coming back off the post and he fired over.

Teehan added another point five minutes later as the scoring rate slowed down.

McKeogh would get Fermanagh’s fourth goal a minute later hitting the roof of the net from a tight angle.

Fitzgerald converted a Cavan free as the game edged into injury time with Teehan pointing from out on the sideline for Fermanagh.

It was Cavan who hit the final score of the game as Conor Masterson pointed as they went in search of a goal and it ended 4-18 to 0-13.

TEAMS & SCORERS

Cavan:

N Clerkin, S Briody, G Fitzpatrick, E Shalvey, J Carney, L O’Brien (0-04, 4f), M Hynes, B Fitazgerald (0-02, 1f), J Barry (0-01), T Leonard, C Maher (0-02, 2f), D Carney, M Moffett, N Kenny (0-02), D Adams,

Subs - Dylan Flanagan (0-01) for Adams, Conor Masterson (0-01) for John Carney, Conor Shalvey for Leonard (all H/T), Euan Crossan for Diarmaid Carney (60)

Fermanagh:

M Curry, D Bannon, R Porteous, Ciaran Duffy, A Flanagan, R Bogue, R McGurn, Caolan Duffy (0-01), B Teehan (2-04), J Duffy (0-01), B Corrigan, LMcCusker (0-08, 2f), T Keenan, J Tormey (1-01), D McKeogh (1-03).

Subs - Odhran Johnston for Duffy (45), Cahir McManus for Tormey (49), Ultan O’Reilly for Keenan (57), Oisin McPhillips for Corrigan (60)

Referee: David Hurson