Fermanagh Under 16 Academy squad finished off their season by travelling down to Louth’s Centre of Excellence at Darver to play in a cross border blitz on Saturday, emerging with two very positive results against Louth and Wicklow and reinforced encouragement and belief that they can handle the step up to inter-county level.
Holidays and injuries meant that the group travelled minus a number of regulars, but the players made light of these issues and played to what has become a pretty well established pattern for them in terms of moving possession and working scores, plus setting up to defend at certain points. The squad is fortunate to have a number of players who can carry the ball and link play well, plus a good ball winning presence up front to make possession stick in the final third. They work hard to defend collectively rather than leaving it to individual defenders to cover things.
The first game saw a super performance against Louth, ending with a 2-11 to 0-4 victory. Pol McKervey will grab the plaudits here for his 2-4 tally, with other points from Marty O’Hara and a Gearoid Maguire double, but the hard work of midfielder Seamie Moane and centre forward Seanie Mahon were also very impressive and key factors in the result. At the back, Fergal Keenan and Luke Flanagan in particular were very impressive, allowing Sean Cassidy to dictate a lot of play from centre half. Overall though, the intensity was excellent from all of the players.
Immediately after the Louth match, the lads were out against Wicklow, and although tiredness did come into play as this match wore on, they managed to turn their superiority into key scores and won 4-7 to 3-6. The scores conceded would disappoint the group, for they have been very miserly in general this year. Wicklow ran at them from deep a few times and maybe Fermanagh didn’t have the energy to get set up for attacks as well as they normally would. When Fermanagh attacked, Callum Jones and Marty Conwell were a very effective inside line, grabbing three good goals. These meant that the team always had a little bit in hand. Further solid defensive play from Luke Harron, Ryan Cassidy and Debhan McGovern helped to ensure that we turned our opponents over and kept it tight for the last period of play. The intelligent play from the group overall, plus the leadership on the field from key players like Sean Cassidy, Seanie Mahon, Callum Jones, Seamie Moane and Luke Flanagan give Fermanagh a good shape to a lot of their play.
The group has now finished up for the year, and will be concentrating on the latter stages of their club leagues and the championship. Their coaches Eddie O’Reilly, Sean Bradley, Conor Doherty and Brendan Rasdale have commented positively on their attitude and ability to take the lessons on board and improve. They can look back on progress made, and start thinking about making the next steps.
Squad who travelled on Saturday: Martin O’Hara (Aghadrumsee), David McKenna, Pol McKervey, Sean Cassidy, Luke Harron (St Joseph’s), Declan McGovern, Luke Flanagan (Derrylin), Debhan McGovern (Derrygonnelly), Seamie Moane, Marty Conwell (Brookeboro), Gearoid Maguire, Oisin Woods (Devenish), Conor McAloon (Belcoo), Seanie Mahon (Irvinestown), Fergal Keenan, Ryan Cassidy (Belnaleck), Callum Jones, Ethan Beresford (Enniskillen).
