Fermanagh 1-11 Cavan 2-9

Cavan held off a late Fermanagh rally to win by a single point in the U20 Ulster Championship on Wednesday night in Brewster Park.

After opening losses to Armagh and Donegal respectively, last night's fixture was a must-win for the Erne County. Still, they could not turn over a half-time deficit of 1-06 to 0-05 despite landing a second-half goal through Michael Burns as they finished bottom of Section B.

Cavan got off to the best possible start as corner forward Cian Keaney found a central position and his shot dropped into the top right corner to start the game with a goal.

Sean Conlon turned and fired over for an instant response at the other end, however, Cavan would edge further ahead when a giveaway in the Fermanagh defence saw Darragh Lovett split the posts.

Keaney then added another point after another careless error.

An outstretched foot from Cavan goalkeeper Lee Phillingham denied Fermanagh a goal but Conor O’Hanlon did send the resultant 45’ over to make it 1-02 to 0-02 after 10 minutes.

Lovett and Daire Madden sent shots over the bar with the latter kicking a lovely outside-of-the-boot score from out wide.

Diarmuid Owens tagged on a score for the home side with Cavan’s Eoghan Hartin then reacting first to a shot that came down off the post as he gathered and played a one-two with Matthew Smith and pointing from an angle.

Smith added a score in between two fine points from Irvinestown man O’Hanlon before half-time.

Conlon began the second-half scoring before quick responses from Favor Shehu and Lovett at the other end.

Keaney and O’Hanlon traded scores before Jack Quinlan found space to cut inside and flash an effort over to make it 1-09 to 0-08, 15 minutes into the second half.

Fermanagh then got to within one point of their counterparts as midfielder Lughaidh Donnelly caught Shea Mulligan’s kick-out and found the on-running Owens who lifted his head to see and find recently introduced Burns waiting in space.

Burns steadied himself before applying an excellent finish into the top right corner. 

Cavan, however, hit back seconds later when Lovett cut inside and finished low from a swift transition.

Fermanagh hit the last three scores of the game through Cian O’Brien and Kealan Fitzpatrick (2) but the Breffnimen held onto the ball for the final minute to retain their one-point lead and their only win in the group.

Fermanagh: S Mulligan; C McAnespie, L McEnri, A Callaghan; D Og Kelly, S McCarron, C Brennan; J Flanagan, L Donnelly; M Burns (1-0), C O’Hanlon (0-4), D Owens (0-1); J Quinlan (0-1), S Conlon (0-2), J Killilea.

Subs: K Fitzpatrick (0-2) for Killilea (22), L Feely for McCarron (34), C O’Brien (0-1) for Og Kelly (37), M McDermott for Flanagan (41), D Morris for Callaghan (55).

Cavan: L Phillingham; J Tynan, E Crowe, K McCabe; F Shehu (0-1), O McCrystal, B McGahan; R Tobin, E Hartin (0-1); Michael Smith, Matthew Smith (0-1), B Donnelly; C Keaney (1-2), D Lovett (1-3), D Madden (0-1).

Subs: O Daly for Tynan (39), T Partington for Tobin (52), A Shekleton for Shehu (52), C Galligan for Michael Smith (53)L Reilly for Keaney (55).