Allianz Football League round one: Division Three North: Fermanagh 0-15 Cavan 0-14
Sean Quigley landed nine points on his return to the Fermanagh colours as Ryan McMenamin’s Ernemen claimed the derby spoils with a one-point victory over Ulster champions Cavan.
Quigley was not a part of last year’s squad and on Satutrday evening he showed what Fermanagh had been missing.
He drilled over six frees as well as adding three points from play in an entertaining contest at Brewster Park to fire his side to the ideal start to their Division Three North campaign
“Sean is in great form and when you see him here today you realise what a great player he is,” said Erne boss McMenamin.
“He has become a leader in this team and the young fellas look up to him and he takes great energy from those young lads as well.”
The opening day win puts Fermanagh in a good position in the four-team group with the top two progressing to the semi-finals and McMenamin was confident that his side could come away with the points: “We were always confident that we were going to win and we just wanted to go out and play good football and I think the lads showed great heart tonight.
''Halfway through the second half I thought we were under pressure and we were maybe on the wrong end of a few decisions but we came through it very well.
“It was a good win but it is only one win and we know that we need another win if we are to have a chance of being promoted.
''We are in the right place, we wanted to give ourselves a shout and didn’t want to be chasing our tails so it is in our own hands,” he added.
In a tight encounter, there was never more than two points separating the sides at any stage.
It was the Breffnimen though who were shading things at the interval as four points from full forward Patrick Lynch, including two from play, nudged them into a 0-6 to 0-5 lead.
However, Mickey Graham’s side were to finish the half with 14 men after midfielder James Smith was red carded after clashing with Fermanagh captain Eoin Donnelly.
The visitors moved two ahead in the resumption as Caoimhan McGovern knocked over but points for Fermanagh from Ciaran Corrigan and Sean Quigley tied things up at 0-7 apiece before they too were reduced to 14 as James McMahon picked up a second yellow.
It was tit for tat after this as the sides shared the next eight points; McGovern, Gearoid McKiernan and Conor Brady on target for Cavan while Darragh McGurn, Declan McCusker and Quigley registered for the home men.
Fermanagh were also unfortunate not to find the net as Quigley put Donnelly through but his effort hit the post.
A good effort from Corrigan then put Fermanagh 0-12 to 0-11 in front in the 62nd minute but he was black carded after the point to leave the home outfit down to 13 men.
Fermanagh though had their tails up and a monster free from Quigley put them two up although McKiernan hit back with a free for Cavan to cut the gap to the minimum as the game moved into added on time.
However, Fermanagh were not to be denied and Quigley and Corrigan tagged on further scores for them while McKiernan hit two late frees as Fermanagh deservedly claimed the points.
Cavan manager Mickey Graham had no argument about the result on the night.
“I said to the lads afterwards that they were hungrier and they deserved the win so we have no qualms,'' he said.
''We had opportunities to get something out of the game but we didn’t take them, we made a lot of handling errors that we would be disappointed in but it was our first time this year in those situations so you would be hoping that you can tidy them up as we move forward
“We were coming in not knowing where we were at but we got a good reality check this evening, we know exactly where we are at and where we need to get to moving forward.”
Fermanagh: C Snow; C McManus, J Cassidy, L Flanagan; K Connor, J McMahon, K McDonnell; E Donnelly, S McGullion; C Corrigan (0-3), T Bogue, J Largo Ellis; C Love (0-1), D McGurn (0-1), S Quigley 0-9 (6f)
Subs: D McCusker (0-1) for McManus (34), S Cassidy for Love (45), A Breen for McGurn (55), B Horan for McGullion (62), R O’Callaghan for McDonnell (70), M McCauley for Largo Ellis (70)
Cavan: R Galligan (0-1, f); K Clarke, P Faulkner, Conor Brady (0-1); Ciaran Brady, Oisin Kiernan, L Fortune; J Smith, K Brady; C Smith (0-1), G McKiernan (0-4, 4f), M Reilly; O Brady, P Lynch (0-4, 2f), C McGovern (0-2)
Subs: C Madden (0-1) for O Brady (HT), S Murray for Smith (HT), J McLoughlin for Clarke (40), M Argue for Lynch (55), C Conroy for Murray (60), O Pierson for McGovern (65)
Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
