Fermanagh Under 16 squad travelled to Garvaghey for the second stage of the Buncrana Cup on Saturday hoping to build on their encouraging performances on the first day in April, when they lost out narrowly to both Tyrone and Donegal, and take the next step in terms of getting positive results to go with positive performances.
The Fermanagh boys faced Antrim first, and in windy conditions, against an energetic Antrim, this was a competitive opener. Fermanagh went in 0-4 to 0-1 up having had the wind. Conor McAloon, Sean Cassidy, Pol McKervey and Callum Jones provided the scores, with the midfield pairing of Ciaran Flanagan and Seamus Moane playing very well in the first of the twenty minute periods. It was inevitable, that Antrim would come back strongly with the wind in the second period, but strong play from Luke Flanagan, Seanie Mahon, Gearoid Maguire and Sean Cassidy in terms of moving the ball, and keeping it, saw Fermanagh take the win 0-9 to 0-5.
Cavan then established themselves as big gun favourites as they demolished Antrim by a large margin and started the final group game in similarly attacking fashion against Fermanagh to go 1-2 to 0-0 up after eight minutes. However, the next period of play saw Fermanagh haul themselves back into the game with scores from Jack Love plus a well taken goal by Marty Conwell. They went in a point down at half time. The Fermanagh lads started the second period with a lot of possession, but the crossfield wind and rain made shooting difficult, and the boys were a bit over ambitious with some of the shots taken on. There was a lot of pressure, as Fermanagh gave it a real go, but Cavan nicked scores on the break, and Fermanagh, scoring through Sean Cassidy and Jack Love, came up just short after a great effort 1-6 to 1-5. The Cavan game saw a super collective effort by the Erne lads, with Oisin Smyth and Ryan Cassidy particularly influential in defence, and the likes of Sean Cassidy and Seanie Mahon and Seamus Moane putting in a great effort. Indeed, the loss of Callum Jones and Moane to late injuries were big factors in just giving Cavan the little bit of space they needed to edge home. Cavan then lost out to a strong Monaghan group by a point in the final, the huge effort it had taken for them to get past Fermanagh taking its toll for them.
The group has been looked after this year by Brendan Rasdale, Sean Bradley, Conor Doherty and Eddie O’Reilly. Doherty’s assessment of the day was mixed, “Being competitive is not enough for this group, in my opinion. They should be serious about getting wins. We had one good win, and I am frustrated that we didn’t get a second one, although maybe we were unlucky with injuries.” Rasdale was more upbeat, “I would say that we have made good progress in terms of our aims for these squads: getting set up properly, use possession, learn lessons to compete and see that they are perfectly capable of getting results if they go about the thing in the right way. They have been very good this year, and have definitely been keen to play for Fermanagh and improve as footballers. I would like to thank our County Board, Club Eirne and Teresa McNabb for their support this year.”
Those who travelled on Saturday were:
David McKenna, Debhan McGovern, Luke Harron, Luke Flanagan, Callum Jones, Oisin Smyth, Gearoid Maguire, Seamie Moane, Ciaran Flanagan, Sean Cassidy, Pol McKervey, Jack Love, Seanie Mahon, Marty Conwell, Conor McAloon, Ryan Cassidy, James Tormey, Brian Ryder, Martin O’Hara, Conor Quinn, Matthew McAleer, Odhran Agnew, Oisin Woods.
