Sport

Fermanagh outclassed but they are far from outfought at HQ

Fermanagh's Se&aacute;n Quigley forces Dublin 'keeper Stephen Cluxton over the goal-line to secure the Erne men a late goal in Croke Park on Sunday<br/>Picture: Colm O'Reilly
Fermanagh's Seán Quigley forces Dublin 'keeper Stephen Cluxton over the goal-line to secure the Erne men a late goal in Croke Park on Sunday
Picture: Colm O'Reilly
Fermanagh's Seán Quigley forces Dublin 'keeper Stephen Cluxton over the goal-line to secure the Erne men a late goal in Croke Park on Sunday
Picture: Colm O'Reilly

All-Ireland SFC quarter-final: Dublin 2-23 Fermanagh 2-15

SO THE beaten docket ended up forcing thousands of betting slips to be torn up instead. The outcome was never in doubt, of course, but Fermanagh still earned considerable credit for their gutsy display, as well as saving the bookies a lot of money.

Better still, the Erne men earned respect, not by keeping Dublin’s score down, but by racking up an impressive tally themselves, the most the Dubs have conceded in Championship action since Donegal stunned them in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final. In the process, Pete McGrath’s men scored the first goals Dublin have conceded in Championship since that turn-up and also won the second half by 2-9 to 1-10.

Sure, a third of Fermanagh’s tally came in the last 10 minutes of play with the win well wrapped up, but that indicates their resilience and spirit. When the Dubs increased their half-time lead of 10 points to 13 just 10 minutes into the second period, the expectation was that they would pull away for a victory in the 20-plus region. Few, if any, would have suggested that Jim Gavin’s side wouldn’t comfortably beat the 14-point handicap anyway.

However, once again Fermanagh’s fitness showed in the closing quarter of a game and they reduced Dublin’s lead even with the Hill roaring their boys in blue on in the final moments. The men in green had had the audacity to tweak the tiger’s tail by forcing a goal in the 62nd minute, and a controversial one to boot. Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton caught a high, hanging shot from Damian Kelly but Seán Quigley buffeted into the goalkeeper, knocking him backwards and an umpire, after some consultation with both those players and the referee, finally decreed the ball had been carried over the goal-line.

The Dublin support howled for a free and hooted their derision at that decision, and their players seemed equally as annoyed at losing their clean sheet, especially in such circumstances. Accordingly, just three minutes later Dublin found the net at the other end beyond any doubt, when a long ball found Bernard Brogan and he and Dean Rock unselfishly combined to set up Paul Flynn for a palmed finish - but Fermanagh were still not finished off.

Substitute Conall Jones fired over fine points off both feet, followed by Tomás Corrigan gleefully capitalising on a mix-up between Cluxton and one of his defenders to stroke the loose ball to the empty net. Fermanagh’s attacking approach in the final minutes was epitomised by their number three Marty O’Brien being the man challenging for the ball kicked in by Richard O’Callaghan. Big Quigley even had the final say on the scoreboard, guiding over a superb long range free to bring his tally to 0-8, half of those from play.

Dublin’s display will be greeted by a mixture of fear and hope from their potential semi-final opponents, Donegal or Mayo. The Leinster champions produced some brilliant attacking play, but there were also signs of the defensive frailty that Donegal exploited so effectively at the same stage last year.

In the first half, it seemed Dublin were setting themselves targets, including trying to score everything from play and also to produce the most fantastic point possible. In keeping with almost all the pre-match predictions, there was a growing sense that the only meaningful competition on the pitch was among the Dublin players, either trying to hold onto or take over a starting slot.

The Dubs duly raced into a 1-4 to 0-1 lead by the 13th minute, when Bernard Brogan fired low to the net after catching a superb long kick-pass by Jack McCaffrey. Fermanagh had struggled with their shooting in the early stages against a fierce breeze and appeared likely to be blown away by Dublin’s quality. Corner-back Niall Cassidy has been performing well this season, but Dublin’s football is at a far higher level, breathtaking play that leaves opponents and spectators gasping, and the Roslea man was finding Brogan hard to contain.

Ciarán Kilkenny was also troubling several markers, while Diarmuid Connolly was drifting around, languidly linking play and popping over a couple of points, one of them an absolute beauty. It looked like Dublin’s strength, speed and movement would be far too much for Fermanagh to cope with, and perhaps that might be the case for any opponents this year. The pace of their counter-attacks is frightening, clever kick-passing combining with rapid support runs to provide a range of options and stretch defences.

Although the non-stop Barry Mulrone powered forward to hit two nice points, Dublin’s array of attacking talent ensured that their starting six forwards had all scored from play moments before half-time. In the same minute as Flynn completed that stat, Brogan added a wonder score from a narrow angle, to take their lead into double figures. Quigley replied with a lovely effort of his own, but Rock then caught a high ball before pointing on the turn to make it 1-13 to 0-6 by the break.

Jim Gavin did withdraw dangerman Kilkenny at the interval, but replacing him with the lively Kevin McManamon hardly made Fermanagh’s task any easier. Although Quigley opened the second half scoring from a free, the Dubs then reeled off four scores in-a-row, with Dean Rock responsible for three of those, including a ‘45’ and a free. Yet, astonishingly, after that it was score for score six times each until Fermanagh’s final flurry, when they outscored the Dubs by 1-3 to one free.

Those late scores made this the highest-scoring football quarter-final ever, the total of 50 overtaking the earlier Kerry-Kildare game (47), which had broken the record of 46 set in 2009 when Cork hammered Donegal. Although Dublin, as expected, progressed to the All-Ireland semi-finals, Fermanagh can also look forward to the future with optimism.

It may be contended that Fermanagh were outclassed for much of this match – but they were never outfought. The young age profile of the side certainly augurs well for the next few seasons.

McGrath’s men may also make the bookmakers think again – about Dublin’s odds for the All-Ireland this year.

MATCH STATS


Dublin: S Cluxton (capt.) (1-0 own goal); J Cooper, R O’Carroll, P McMahon; J McCarthy, C O’Sullivan, J McCaffrey; B Fenton (0-1), D Bastick; P Flynn (1-1), C Kilkenny (0-3), D Connolly (0-2); D Rock (0-7, 0-1 ‘45’, 0-2 frees), P Andrews (0-3), B Brogan (1-6); Substitutes: K McManamon for Kilkenny (h-t); Macauley for Bastick (h-t); A Brogan for Connolly (48); M Fitzsimons for Cooper (50); J Small for McCarthy (56); C Costello for Andrews (66); Blood sub: T Brady for Flynn (58-59).


Fermanagh: T Treacy; M Jones, M O’Brien, N Cassidy; D McCusker, R McCluskey, J McMahon; E Donnelly (capt.), R O’Callaghan; B Mulrone (0-3), R Jones, R Corrigan; P McCusker, S Quigley (0-8, 0-4 frees), T Corrigan (1-2, 0-1 free); Substitutes: D Kelly for P McCusker (42); T Daly for M Jones (54); C Jones (0-2) for D McCusker (54); D Kille for R Corrigan (68).


Referee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry)


Attendance: 58,630