Quinn Building Products Fermanagh SFC final: Derrygonnelly Harps 0-15 St Mary’s, Devenish 0-8
MASTERS of their domain. Derrygonnelly secured a three-peat of Fermanagh senior championship titles with a controlled and dominant display over a Devenish side who worked hard to the last minute but who ultimately didn’t have the keys to unlock a Harps defence that was too well structured and physically strong.
Devenish amassed half of their final total by the 15-minute mark, but from that point they would be outscored 0-12 to 0-4 by a Derrygonnelly team who were better all over the pitch.
The Harps had nine different scorers over the course of the game, with their two midfielders and six starting forwards all splitting the posts to underline the fact that they are a team built on equality of effort and selflessness to a man.
The challenge now for Derrygonnelly is to make an impact at provincial level.
Their forays into Ulster in recent years have been halted by Slaughtneil on both occasions but their manager Martin Greene believes they have the ability to make a breakthrough;
“We were very disappointed with the last two years in Ulster. Last year we had learned a bit tactically, we were a bit naive the first year and went gung-ho for it. But as a club we want to go and win an Ulster Championship. We believe we have the players here and the squad as good as anything in Ulster and we will be going out to give it a good rattle.”
There is no doubt that there is plenty of confidence in this Derrygonnelly side and it is easy to see where the bedrock of that confidence emanates when you watch their defence in action.
Three times in the first half they swarmed around Devenish dangerman Barry Mulrone to either force a turnover or an overcarry.
Michael Jones and Tiernan Daly provide capable man-marking qualities along with strength and drive.
There is also constant support from Ryan and Garvan Jones dropping from midfield and Declan Cassidy and Leigh Jones dropping deep from their half-forward slots
It all combines to make that central channel a suffocating experience for any team who look to attack it.
Devenish’s first four scores came from dead balls and the accurate left boot of Terry O’Flanagan. The Garrison men held a one-point lead on the quarter-hour mark, with Derrygonnelly replying to that quartet of scores through Leigh Jones, Gary McKenna and a sweetly struck 45 from Eamon McHugh.
The Harps took a vice-like grip on proceedings on 15 minutes and in that vital period before half-time they would shoot six of the seven points scored.
Paul Ward clipped over a brace, with McKenna doing likewise, while Conal Jones also got in on the act.
They also hit the post through Ward and Martin Doherty did brilliantly to clear off the line from a Conal Jones drive that had beaten Thomas Treacy in the Devenish net.
Chris O’Brien stopped the rot with a fine individual effort for the Garrison side but the Harps last score of the first half underlined their growing dominance, a sweeping move found the evergreen Kevin Cassidy and the 42-year-old thumped a fine effort between the posts to bring the curtain down on the opening act.
Reflecting after the game, Derrygonnelly manager Martin Greene highlighted this period as being crucial to his side’s victory.
“We expected a tough start and we always expected it to be nip and tuck but guys started to get on the ball and showed a good bit of composure and we were a bit more relaxed and got those few scores.
‘‘We were probably disappointed with our tally, we only had nine scores from 22 shots but we were delighted to have that four-point margin,” Greene explained.
In the opening five minutes of the second half the teams shared points with O’Brien again on target for Devenish and Conal Jones replying with a monster free kick for the champions.
The Harps then had Eamon McHugh sent to the line for what the referee deemed to be a black card offence but Derrygonnelly never missed a step and kicked the next three scores, two coming from the exceedingly hard-working Declan Cassidy.
Two more O’Flanagan free kicks had the game back to a five-point margin but, in truth, it was petering towards an inescapable conclusion for Devenish.
They never looked like engineering that goalscoring chance that they needed despite the sterling work of Martin O’Brien around the middle of the field.
They pushed O’Brien into the full-forward line in the hope of manufacturing something of a late smash-and-grab but the delivery was never of a high enough quality to trouble a comfortable Harps full-backline.
Ryan Jones and Leigh Jones had the last two points of the game and in one of the final acts of the game, Derrygonnelly substitute Denis Greene was shown a straight red card deep into injury-time.
The final whistle signalled three in-a-row for a side who have definite ambitions in the treacherous terrain of Ulster.
They welcome the Armagh champions to Brewster Park in four weeks’ time and while not many will give them a chance of victory, those within the Derrygonnelly club will be relishing the chance to produce an upset.
Derrygonnelly: J Kelly; S McGullion, T Daly, M Jones, N Gallagher, E McHugh 0-1 (45), G McGinley, R Jones 0-1), G Jones 0-1, L Jones 0-2, P Ward 0-2 (1f), D Cassidy 0-2, G McKenna 0-3 (2f), C Jones 0-2 (1f), K Cassidy 0-1); Subs: L Jones for Gallagher (46), S McGullion for McKenna (54), A Gallagher for K Cassidy (57), A Burke for L Jones (60), S Jones for D Cassidy (60)
Black Card: E McHugh (33); Red Card: D Greene (64)
Devenish: T Treacy, V O’Brien, S McAloon, C McGowan, R Doherty, A McGuinness, M Doherty, T O’Flanagan 0-6f, J Love, J McNulty, M O’Brien, D Rasdale, G Gallagher, B Mulrone, C O’Brien 0-2; Subs: J J O’Brien for McAloon (HT), R Maguire for McNulty (HT), J O’Flanagan for Gallagher (41)
Yellow Card: R Doherty (63)
Referee: G McLaughlin (Ederney)
