McKenna Cup Semi Final
Tyrone v Fermanagh
Clones, Sunday @ 2.00pm
Referee – Noel Mooney (Cavan)
Tyrone and Fermanagh will meet on Sunday in the Bank of Ireland McKenna Cup Semi Final following the completion of the group stages on Wednesday night.
Before Wednesday night’s Round 3 games it was expected that Cavan would defeat UUJ and with that it would come down to Fermanagh or Tyrone battling it out for a best scoring difference. However, Cavan were surprisingly defeated by UUJ and with that Tyrone topped the Group C and Fermanagh slipped into the Semi Finals as best second placed team.
Last season both teams also met at the Semi Final stage and it was Tyrone who booked a Final place after a 1-13 to 0-9 victory which was hugely helped by the sending off of Fermanagh captain Eoin Donnelly with 28 minutes left of the second half.
There is no doubting that this game will be a huge game for both sides in the quest for a McKenna Cup Final appearance.
Tyrone go into the game as 1/4 favourites and with the likes of Ronan McNamee, Cathal McShane, Mark Bradley and Conor Meyler returning to the squad then it is clear that Mickey Harte wants to see Tyrone into a sixth consecutive McKenna Cup Final.
Tyrone go into the game having recovered from an opening day defeat to Cavan to beat UUJ and Donegal. The likes of Sean Cavanagh and Matthew Donnelly have been held in reserve for Sunday but you can be assured if things aren’t going to plan then the big Moy and Trillick men will be called upon.
Fermanagh have put in encouraging performances so far. They were rather unlucky to leave Clones in round 1 with a one point defeat but they made up for this with two fine performances against St Marys and Antrim.
A huge scoring spread will have impressed the Fermanagh management team with the likes of Paul McCusker, Aidan Breen, Michael Jones and Barry Mulrone all hitting some wonderful scores along with the likes of Sean Quigley, Tomas Corrigan and Eddie Courtney.
Fermanagh will certainly be fired up for this game and will relish the underdog tag. They will need to start well and keep things tight at the back making sure the Tyrone attack cant get time on the ball. If Fermanagh’s key players put in the performance that we all know they can then Fermanagh can book a first McKenna Cup final since they last won it twenty years ago.
Odds
Tyrone 1/4
Draw 8/1
Fermanagh 7/2
