Fermanagh football has been on the rise for the last number of seasons and the work that is going into the Youth side of Fermanagh GAA at the moment is really taking shape of late.
The Fermanagh Under-16’s put up good showings recently against Antrim and Cavan while the Under-15 squad is also certainly going places with victories this season already against Cavan and Monaghan.
Last weekend the Under-15 squad travelled to play Derry in Bannagher Park, Feeny. Although the Fermanagh side only travelled with a panel of 20 players they still gave a great account of themselves and were to lose influential duo Aaron McManus (Teemore) and Luca McCusker (Maguiresbridge) after only 10 minutes of the game.
Derry had a squad of 35 and the game was played in 3 thirds of 25 minutes apiece. After the 2nd period Fermanagh went in leading by 2 points but a raft of subs for Derry and the fresher legs shone through as the Fermanagh boys fitness told and the fresher Derry squad won the game by unloading the bench, Derry winning by 12 at the end of 75 minutes.
Fermanagh scorers v Derry = Caolan Feely (Devenish) 2-0, Oran Flanagan (Erne Gaels) 1-0, Oisin Jackson (Tempo) 0-2, Michael McPhillips (Tempo) 0-2, Conor Magee (Tempo) 0-1.
Against Derry the Ernesiders had some fine performances from Derrygonnelly defenders Ronan McHugh and Dara Burke. Midfield duo from Tempo Oisin Jackson and Dylan Flynn were both superb. While attackers Caolan Feely and Oran Flanagan were most prominent.
On Saturday past the Fermanagh U15’s under the management of Stephen Jackson, Liam Swift and Cyril Dunne faced up to Donegal and Armagh in Lissan. This Fermanagh Under-15’s are a side definitely worth watching out for as they have some fantastic footballers and a real willingness to work hard off the ball.
The squad have been training since March and have had at least 2 collective training sessions per month.
The Fermanagh squad had 33 players which were split in 2 with an A and B team that played Donegal U15’s A & B team first.
Donegal brought over 50 players and the B game result was to see the Donegal side dominate from early on and win easily.
The A game was completely different though as Fermanagh defeated Donegal, 2-10 to 2-3. Donegal scored a opening goal after just 60 seconds but Fermanagh grew brilliantly into the game with the 2-9 coming from = Aaron McManus (Teemore) 1-3, Oran Flanagan (Erne Gaels) 1-1, Michael McPhillips (Tempo) 0-2, Oisin Jackson (Tempo) 0-1, Luca McCusker (Maguiresbridge) 0-1, Christopher McGowan (Devenish) 0-1 and Sean McNally (Teemore) 0-1.
For Fermanagh Peter Rafferty (Tempo) was outstanding at full back, Joe McDaid (Lisnaskea) was outstanding at centre half back and such was the dominance of Fermanagh in the 2nd half that Donegal did not get inside the Fermanagh 21 until 11 minutes into the second half (20 minutes per half).
In the second game Fermanagh faced Armagh and won for the second game in a row, 1-8 to 2-2.
1-2 came from the excellent Aaron McManus who rotated between full forward and midfield throughout the game. Points came from Oran Flanagan 0-2, Michael McPhillips 0-2 and twin brothers Jack and Josh Largo-Ellis (Irvinestown).
Again Peter Rafferty was outstanding at full back, Joe McDaid brilliant at centre half back and Oisin Jackson anchored the midfield to allow others to attack quite brilliantly.
The Fermanagh lads had to take a take a bit of heavy and late tackles as the Armagh boys frustration mounted which made the win all the better for the home side.
Fermanagh have now beat Donegal, Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan in one season at Under-15 level, slowly but surely the Ernesiders are making waves at underage football in Ulster.
Isn’t it great to see!!!
