National Football League Division Three: Down 1-18 Fermanagh 1-15
Sunday marked the first day of spring, and with five wins out of five and promotion all but a mathematical catastrophe away, it’s fair to say that Down have wintered well.
Not for the first time this season, however, they have seen a healthy lead trimmed with the finish line in sight, only to take the chequered flag ahead of their opponents.
Ulster rivals Fermanagh were going to be no less determined than the teams they had faced to date, despite the Ernemen starring relegation in the face following their fifth defeat on the trot.
This, after all, was a team which gave the Mournemen an almighty scare in the first round of last year’s Ulster Championship in Enniskillen, albeit with a more settle side than that which Declan Bonner has had at his disposal this year.
They still have two of their better performers from that day in goalkeeper Shaun McNally and full-forward Conor Love, although McNally was operating behind a defence shorn of the Cullen twins and Love was forced to subsist on meagre service.
A 1-10 to 0-7 lead was carved trimmed to three by the end, but before Ronan McCaffrey’s 70th minute goal, the home side always looked relatively comfortable, if not spectacular on their way to a fifth consecutive win in Division Three.
As they have been for Down’s previous home games in this year’s league, the conditions were less than ideal. A second half rain shower and swirling win making it difficult for them to persist with their high-tempo running game.
Asked afterwards whether he was glad to see spring ushered in, Down coach Mickey Donnelly quipped:
“It’ll be good to hear the lawnmower going again anyway,”
He added: “The pitch was heavy too. The way we play, and we like to play with a fairly high tempo, we do think we have an athletic group of players. The pitch wasn’t really conducive to that today, it was very difficult to get any kind of separation away from a man, so it’s good to come out on the right side of it.
“We’re no different to anybody else. The way the game is played now, the nature of the new rules, there’s more space in the game and you want to play that on a dry sod.
“The spring day will be well welcomed on Tuesday night when we get to training.”
Donnelly wasn’t going to engage in too much speculation over whether promotion had been secured or not, despite Westmeath’s defeat to Laois and ahead of Sunday’s clash between Wexford and Sligo.
Down know not to underestimate their Ulster rivals and a three-point win over the Ernemen is a satisfactory return, even if the performance left work to be done.
“Ourselves and Fermanagh has always been close, We beat them by a point last year in the championship. Fermanagh beat us in Ederney three years ago this week, three years ago that denied us promotion.
“Until the goal went in, I just felt we were able to keep that five/six-point buffer and we did keep Fermanagh at arm’s length. It wasn’t as if it was a defensive masterclass that we were holding on. We still had a lot of possession.
“So when that goal came, it meant a wee bit of squeaky bum time for the last lock of minutes.”
There appeared little such concern as, once again, Odhran Murdock and Daniel Guinness proved the engine for the Down effort.
Murdock in particular was relishing breaking the lines in the Fermanagh defence which has proved more porous due to the absence of the aforementioned players.
It was the Burren man who engineered and scored his side’s goal in the first half.
Down led 0-7 to 0-2 at that stage, Pat Havern (0-4), Adam Crimmins, Callum Rogers and Ceilum Doherty splitting the posts early on.
Murdock then mercilessly dispossessed Shaun McCarron 30 metres from the Fermanagh goal. Two big strides took him within shooting range and after his first shot was blocked, he gathered the rebound and finished to the net.
Bar a period when Darragh McGurn two-pointer in the 45th minute brought it back to three, Down held at least a two-score lead until that late Fermanagh goal made injury time interesting.
McGurn, Ronan McCaffrey, Love and Garvan Jones enjoyed some scoring joy late on as the game became a little loose and their need became greater.
However, Down were able to introduce experience in the form of Barry O’Hagan and Liam Kerr.
It was Kerr who was the most impactful of Down’s subs, moving through the gears in trademark fashion to torment the tired Fermanagh defence, drawing a black card for McGurn and a yellow for McCaffrey when fouling him was the only way to stop him.
Down face Sligo (a) and Laois (h) in their final two games and at least a point in either will rubber-stamp promotion and Donnelly emphasised the importance of trying to cultivate a deep squad.
“The All-Ireland series showed us last year, and our games in the Ulster Championship and Tailteann Cup over the last number of years, our cupboard was bare at times and we’re going to have to find players in key positions,” he said
“Hopefully the last couple of games will give us the opportunity to do that.”
DOWN: R Burns; P Fegan, P Laverty, C Rogers (0-2); S Annett, R Magill, D Guinness; O Murdock (1-2), R McEvoy; A Crimmins (0-4), C Doherty (0-1), M Rooney; T Close, P Havern (0-7, 0-2 frees), J McGeough.
Subs: E Brown (0-1) for M Rooney (29); L Kerr (0-1 free) for J McGeough (51); B O’Hagan for T Close (61); R O’Hare for Havern (67)
Black card: Eamon Brown (70 to end)
FERMANAGH: S McNally; J Cassidy, O Smyth, L Flanagan (0-1); S McGullion, R McCaffrey (1-1), J Largo-Elis; B Horan, D McGurn (0-5, 1tp); J McDade, S McCarron, A Kelm; C O’Brien (0-1), G Jones (0-2 frees), C Love (0-2).
Subs: D McCusker (0-1) for S McCarron (22); C Corrigan (0-1) for A Kelm (34); M McDermott (0-1) for C O’Brien (48); C Magee for B Horan (54); C O’Hanlon for C Love (67)
Black card: Darragh McGurn (64-74)
Yellow cards: J Largo-Ellis (60); Ronan McCaffrey (65)
Referee: Sean Lonergan.
