Football

Fermanagh a serious challenge for Donegal says Sean Quigley

Sean Quigley finished with 1-1 at Brewster Park last Sunday
Sean Quigley finished with 1-1 at Brewster Park last Sunday Sean Quigley finished with 1-1 at Brewster Park last Sunday

SEAN QUIGLEY is blessed with “having an extra few inches on the hips” and he used his natural attributes to create the chance that killed off Antrim last Sunday.

Quigley took a pass from Paul McCusker and turned marker Ricky Johnston before placing a precise finish past Chris Kerr to send his side six points clear and guarantee their progress to an Ulster quarter-final meeting with Donegal on June 12.

“I had just one thing on my mind and that was the back of the net,” said Roslea Shamrocks clubman Quigley when asked to describe his goal.

“I turned him and that’s the positive of having an extra few inches on the hips,” he added with a laugh.

“Ricky Johnston is a very tight marker and it was probably the only time I got away from him in the whole game. We were under the cosh a bit before that - Antrim were only three points behind us and they were coming at us, so I just picked my spot, said a few novenas and prayed to God and it went in.”

Quigley enjoys a laugh as much as the next man, but there is a serious side to him too and the composure he showed to bag the only goal of the game so late in last Sunday’s preliminary round showdown illustrated the hard work he has put in on the training pitch.

Donegal have featured in the last five Ulster finals - winning three and losing the others to Monaghan - and, while he expects taking them on to be a “massive task”,   he says Fermanagh will be a “serious challenge” for Tir Chonaill.

“Donegal at Ballybofey is going to be a massive task, but we have no fear of going up there at all,” said Quigley.

“We are a confident bunch. I think the perception of Fermanagh football is starting to change a wee bit. People might be taking us a wee bit more seriously and,  hopefully, Donegal will take us seriously because we’re going to be a serious challenge for them.

“So we’re looking forward to it, these are the type of games we want to be playing in and we’ll make the most of it when we get down there.”

To have any chance of beating Donegal, Fermanagh will need to extend their first-half performance last Sunday over the full 70 minutes. Quigley admitted the side were “very flat” in the second-half at Brewster Park but, ultimately, they had the cushion of a seven-point half-time lead and got over the line comfortably at the finish.

“We were very, very flat in that second-half,” he said.

“We played very well in the first and we probably should have been a lot more in front. We came out with great intentions in the second-half, but credit to Antrim, they came back out at us.

“We have a lot of stuff to work on… I don’t know why it was flat, it’s hard to know, it was just one of them games when the crowd were flat, we were flat… Hopefully, we can pick it up over the next couple of weeks.”

He added: “Any win in the Ulster Championship is a good win.

“They weren’t that plentiful around here for a long time, so you have to make the most of them.”