Antrim 0-10 Fermanagh 1-16

Fermanagh booked their place in the final of the U20 Ulster Championship Tier 2 competition with a nine-point win over Antrim despite being two points behind at halftime.

Maurice McLaughlin’s side made the trip up to Dunsilly on Monday evening after finishing bottom of their group Ulster Championship section but will now have the chance to play for silverware as they face Down this Monday in Brewster Park.

A vastly different second half followed an underwhelming opening 30 minutes as Fermanagh hit 1-12 under pressure after going into the break 0-06 to 0-04 down.

Teemore’s Liam MacEnri opened the scoring on Monday as he split the posts with a mark early on with the Erne side playing against a slight breeze. 

Antrim were quick to respond and took the lead themselves as Johnny Hannon and Nick Duffy put the home side in front before further points came via Hannon and Tom Shivers to open up a three-point lead. 

Mattie McDermott opened his account for the game with a point just before the 20-minute mark and Cal McAnespie tagged on another.

Hannon was shown a black card in between scores from Duffy and Callum Walsh as Antrim went down to 14 men but regained their three-point lead. 

However, McDermott kicked the final score of the half to leave two between the sides.

After some choice words at halftime from manager McLaughlin, Fermanagh notched up a couple of gears in the second half and hit the opening seven scores as McDermott pointed with Kealan Fitzpatrick, Cian O’Brien and Caolan Brennan all grabbing two points each.

Duffy eventually landed Antrim’s first point of the half with Fermanagh now reaping the benefits of the slight breeze.

Derrylin forward Diarmuid Owens went close with a shot at goal, but it was well saved as the teams then exchanged scores through Lanty Feely and Connlaodh McCann.

McDermott slotted over again with Brennan also grabbing his third point, either side of an Antrim point from Jack Toner.

With Fermanagh in control of the contest, McDermott stepped up to find the net and put clear daylight between the teams.

A turnover in defence allowed Fermanagh to counter with some swift hand-passing before McDermott found space and crashed the ball past goalkeeper Senan Nagle.

There were late points traded from Antrim's Conan Johnston and Fermanagh captain Sean Conlon as the visitors ran out comfortable winners in the end to set up an Ulster final at Brewster Park.

Antrim: S Nagle, C Maginnis, G MacAdhaim, E O’Hare, P Duffin, C Johnston (0-01), C McCann (0-01), M McCrossan, T Shivers (0-01), C Walsh (0-01), C Donnelly, N Duffy (0-03), C Gribbin, J Hannon (0-02), N Hynds.

Subs: J Toner (0-01) for Donnelly (37), R Quinn for Walsh (42), R McErlain for Duffin (54).

Fermanagh: S Mulligan, C McAnespie (0-01), S McCarron, J Flanagan, J McCaffrey, L MacEnri (0-01), C Brennan (0-03), L Feely (0-01), L Donnelly, K Fitzpatrick (0-02), C O’Brien (0-02), D Owens (0-01), M McDermott (1-04), S Conlon (0-01), J Quinlan.

Subs: A Callaghan for McCaffrey (49), R Duffy for MacEnri (54), S Deazley for O’Brien (57), D Cathcart for Fitzpatrick (60).