Sport

On This Day: June 15, 1997: Cavan come strong to see off Fermanagh

Cavan’s Patrick Shiels gets the ball away as Fermanagh continue to fight at Healy Park, Omagh
Cavan’s Patrick Shiels gets the ball away as Fermanagh continue to fight at Healy Park, Omagh Cavan’s Patrick Shiels gets the ball away as Fermanagh continue to fight at Healy Park, Omagh

A STUNNING spell of five unanswered points inspired by the play of pocket-dynamo Mickey Graham and substitute full-back Terry Farrelly clinched a 0-14 to 0-11 win for Cavan over Fermanagh, setting up a semi-final shoot-out with Donegal on Sunday.

Cavan boss Martin McHugh was an animated figure of high tension, patrolling the sidelines, during an exciting roller-coaster finish to yesterday’s enthralling first round replay.

The Breffni men had weathered a storming start by Fermanagh and faced a two-point deficit after 47 minutes before the crossbar twice, a crucial save by keeper Paul O’Dowd and a terrific stop by opposite number Cormac McAdam set the game up for grabs.

Dermot McCabe had levelled the issue 17 minutes into the second half, but as Fermanagh failed to make their chances count a burst of points during a free-flowing period of Cavan pressure killed off Pat King’s promising pupils.

Farrelly’s display at full-back, where he fielded and intercepted passes with cool composure, was the launching-pad for three of the five scores, with the cornerforward skills of young Graham outstanding.

Their spadework reaped dividends as Peter Reily, substitute marksman Ronan Carolan, Jason Reilly and Graham himself reeled off excellent scores to build what proved a match-winning advantage.

Fermanagh: Cormac McAdam, Clive Fitzpatrick, Sean Breen, Paddy McGuinness, Tommy Callaghan, Barry King, Michael Lilly, Paul Brewster, Collie Courtney, Ray Johnson, Collie Curran, Liam McBarron, Raymond Gallagher, Stephen Maguire, Shane King.

Substitutes: Kieran Donnelly for Courtney, Mark Gallagher for Maguire, Raymond Curran for Lilly

Cavan: Paul O’Dowd, Paul Brady, Ciaran Brady, Damien O’Reilly, Gerry Sheridan, Bernard Morris, Patrick Shiels, Stephen King, Dermot McCabe, Peter Reilly, Anthony Forde, Raymond Cunningham, Jason Reilly, Fintan Cahill, Mickey Graham

Substitutes: Terry Farrelly for Paul Brady, Ronan Carolan for Raymond Cunningham, Larry Reilly for Forde

Referee: Jim Curran (Tyrone)

Attendance: 17,752

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WHAT looked the best game of the five preliminary ties in the Antrim senior hurling championship turned out just that as Rossa swept to a 5-12 to 3-8 victory over Cushendun at Casement Park.

Goals were the order of the day, Rossa hammering home three and the north Antrim men battling back brilliantly with two during the first half.

The first came after five minutes when man of the match Paul Close set the tone of the game and put Rossa ahead 1-2 to 0-1.

Two minutes later came the second when a long range effort from Chris Hamill was misjudged by Cushendun defenders and the Belfast men were well on their way, seven points clear at this stage.

Sean Kelly and Hamill’s injury time points gave them a well deserved but certainly not an easy victory.

Rossa scorers: C Hamill 2-5; P Close 2-2; S Kelly 0-3; J Boyle 1-0; C Murphy 0-2.

Cushendun scorers: E Graham & B O’Hara 0-3 each; A Mort 1-1; A Magee 1-0, R P Laverty 1-0; D Kinney 0-1.

Ref: T McIntyre (Loughgiel)

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ERNIE Els pipped Scot Colin Montgomerie to clinch his second US Open title after a thrilling fight at The Congressional Country Club in Maryland.

Els, winner in 1994, started the day two shots behind leader Tom Lehman and was tied with Montgomerie for the lead after 16 holes.

But Montgomerie, who had putted brilliantly all day, bogeyed on the 17th to give Els a one stroke lead and the South African parred the last hole to seal the victory.