Allianz NFL Division 2
Fermanagh vs Meath
Brewster Park
Sunday February 7th @ 2.00pm
Meath make the trip to Enniskillen in the second round of the National League as the Royals look to make it 2 wins from 2 against a Fermanagh side who came out of Celtic Park last Sunday with a hurting 9 point defeat.
Fermanagh last season went undefeated at Brewster Park but the home faithful will know that Division 2 football is altogether a different scenario, especially against a Meath side who have really hit the ground running this season.
In the Fermanagh rearguard Michael Jones, Che Cullen and James McMahon will all have to keep things tight against a fast Meath forward line, while at midfield team captain Eoin Donnelly will look to win the aerial battle.
Fermanagh will once again look to Sean Quigley for the scores and with the Corrigan brothers Ruairi and Tomas notching 1-1 and 0-3 last week respectively it is hoped the Erne men can cause more problems to the Meath defence.
A major worry for Pete McGrath’s side will be the high score they let Derry score last week, the 3-13 that the Oak Leafers posted easily outweighed Fermanagh’s average conceding score last season which was 11.8 points.
Meath come into the game after a deserving O’Byrne Cup success in January seen the Royals lift the Leinster crown for the first time since 2006. Mick O’Dowd who is now into his 4th year as Meath manager will be happy to get his hands on a first bit of silverware and promotion will now be on his next goal for the 2016 term.
Meath have missed out on promotion to the Division 1 party in the past two seasons by finishing 3rd and with a confident yet unspectacular display against Armagh the Royals have got off to the perfect start in Division 2.
Long serving duo Kevin Reilly and Stephen Bray have retired but players such as Andrew Tormey, Graham Reilly, Harry Rooney and 23 year old captain Donal Keogan all looked bright and sharp last Sunday.
Michael Newman of the Kilmainham GAA club impressed last weekend with 1-4 and it was also the defence which took plenty of plaudits by keeping Armagh scoreless for the entire second half.
Fermanagh will want something from this game before a 3 week break sees them travel to Armagh for the 2nd of 4 Ulster derbies. This game could really go either way, Fermanagh had the best defensive record in the top 3 divisions in 2015 but the 3 goals conceded last week was a first since Wexford in 2014.
Meath are going well and will be confident of leaving Brewster Park with two points. Michael Newman is in terrific form and the 1-10 to 0-8 win over Armagh will have installed huge confidence to the younger players like Harry Rooney and Brian Power.
Good luck to both teams.
NFL 2016 Top Scorer thus far –
Fermanagh – Ruairi Corrigan 1-1 (4)
Meath – Michael Newman 1-4 (7)
By Tom Thu 4th Feb
