Fermanagh 0-10 v Meath 0-6
ALLIANZ LEAGUE DIV 2
Fermanagh picked up their first points of the NFL campaign with a hard fought 4 point victory over Meath at a wet Brewster Park yesterday.
14-man Meath were to go the last 24 minutes of the game without scoring and Fermanagh’s Tomas Corrigan was to hit 4 superb frees to push Fermanagh over the line.
“Im thrilled,” admitted Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath after the game.
“It was a tough game out there, we knew Meath were never going to be an easy challenge and they showed out there they are a difficult team to break down.”
He continued, “We said at half time we had 35 minutes of tough work to do and fair play to the boys they kept in touch with Meath in the second half and we pushed on of which I am delighted with.”
“The players tried in difficult conditions out there and they really stood up to the battle with real hunger and great character. Its going to be a tough league but we have a 3 week break now to work together before we face Armagh.”
Fermanagh have now went 11 games undefeated in Brewster Park and with Cavan, Laois and Tyrone all still to come to Enniskillen its a fact McGrath is happy with, “The players enjoy playing here of course and if the results keep coming our way then its all the better. I am just delighted with how they performed today when we could have lay down mid way through the second half.”
The game was nip and tuck right throughout the first half with Eoin Donnelly opening the Fermanagh scoring account after just 12 seconds.
A Michael Newman free and another free from Sean Toibin put the Leinster side 0-2 to 0-1 ahead but once again Fermanagh came back with Aidan Breen getting up from defence to see his powerful shot rise over the bar for a point.
Cillian O’Sullivan and Sean Quigley then exchanged scores before the major turning point of the gamer as Andrew Tormey walked for a red card after initially receiving yellow and black.
Fermanagh moved on with two Sean Quigley scores giving them a 0-5 to 0-3 half time lead.
Meath started the second half in fine fashion with Donal Lenihan and Sean Toibin (2) pointing but gradually Fermanagh hauled themselves back into the contest with 3 Tomas Corrigan frees making it 0-8 to 0-6 with just 6 minutes remaining.
The momentum was now all with the home side as Barry Mulrone and Tomas Corrigan added on late scores to put a gloss on the 0-10 to 0-6 victory.
A fine Fermanagh victory, while for Meath the sending off was a fatal blow.
FERMANAGH: C Snow; M Jones, C Cullen, N Cassidy; P Rehill, J McMahon, A Breen; E Donnelly, D Kelly; B Mulrone, C Flaherty, R Hanna; R Corrigan, S Quigley, T Corrigan.
Scorers: T Corrigan 0-04 (4f), S Quigley 0-03 (1f, 1 ’45’), A Breen, E Donnelly, B Mulrone 0-01 each.
Subs: P McGovern for Rehill (44), R Jones for Hanna (43). K Connor for Kelly (58), E McHugh for Breen (72)
MEATH: P O’Rourke; D Keogan, C McGill, M Burke; B Power, P Harnan, C Finn; H Rooney, A Tormey; G Reilly, C O’Sullivan, J McEntee; S Tobin, M Newman, D Lenihan.
Scorers: S Tobin 0-03 (2f, 1 ’45’), D Lenihan 0-01, C O’Sullivan, M Newman 0-01 (f) each
Subs: E Wallace for Lenihan (45), D Smyth for McEntee (57), A Douglas for Finn (63), B O’Brien for Tobin (68), R O Coilleann for Reilly (68)
By Tom Mon 8th Feb
