Dr. McKenna Cup semi-final: Tyrone v Fermanagh (tomorrow, 2pm, Clones)
FOR 35 minutes of last year’s semi-final, the giddiness began to rattle through the Fermanagh veins as they contemplated the prospect of beating Tyrone.
In front of 5,619 supporters in St. Tiernach’s Park, the Ernemen went off level at 0-4 apiece and had made a wholesome contribution to a fiery, physical affair.
But with the dismissal – harsh, Fermanagh felt – of Eoin Donnelly on a second booking on 43 minutes, their hopes fell away and Tyrone won the second half 1-9 to 0-5.
Fermanagh would go on to survive in Division Two and give both Donegal and Mayo decent games in the summer, but it still hangs over them that this crop hasn’t beaten one of the big guns in a meaningful game.
When they were beaten by Monaghan in the opening game of this year’s McKenna Cup campaign, Pete McGrath was genuinely annoyed. That was a great sign.
He has helped Fermanagh develop not only a level of competitiveness but also a level of expectation about themselves. They will equally expect to beat Tyrone tomorrow.
Such expectation, though, has to remain categorised as unfounded until they come out the right side of one of these games.
Wins over St Mary’s and Antrim, the latter by a 14-point margin on Wednesday night, saw them into the last four as an unexpected semi-finalist, profiting on Cavan’s surprise defeat by Ulster University.
McGrath may be able to call on Ryan Jones for the first time this season after he rejoined training recently, while Sean Quigley’s first outing against Antrim was a boost to their attacking resources.
That said, the news that Tiernan Daly will be out for six weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered early against Monaghan, and that Ruairi Corrigan will miss the whole National League campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery, are considerable blows.
Aidan Breen has hit the ground running to continue his fine form from last year, and Wednesday night’s team had a distinctly experienced look about it.
They were sweating on a couple of niggles before naming a team but they will go as strong as they possibly can to meet the challenge of a seasoned Tyrone side.
Mickey Harte issued a warning to his fringe players that the experimentation will stop when the McKenna Cup ends, though his team selection for tomorrow still makes room for a couple of opportunities.
Declan McClure, Niall McKenna and Lee Brennan are given starts in a reshuffled attack along with Niall Sludden, Darren McCurry and Cathal McShane.
Colm Cavanagh comes back into the side at midfield to pair Padraig McNulty, who will be desperate for a big display after Harte revealed his displeasure at the number of marks taken by Donegal’s youngsters on Wednesday night.
Ronan McNamee returns to the team after holiday, while Aidan McCrory is also in the full-back line and Ronan McNabb replaces Jonathan Munroe at wing-back.
The returning Conor Meyler and Mark Bradley join Mattie Donnelly, Ronan O’Neill and Sean Cavanagh on a strong bench.
“Obviously we’re happy when we qualify. We didn’t start too well, but we have had a couple of games since that and I think we have improved a lot,” said Harte.
“We didn’t want to let go of the McKenna Cup by not even qualifying for the semi-final, and that was a possibility after our first match.
“Neither ourselves or many Tyrone supporters were very pleased coming out of Breffni Park.
“Now we have another game, we have a fourth game. We always say, the more games you get competitively at this time of year, the better we feel about it, so another competitive game on Sunday will be great.”
Breaking the Red Hand run of reaching every final since 2010 would be a significant victory for Fermanagh but even if they avoid a repeat of last year’s circumstances, they may not be able to avoid the result.
THE TEAMS
Tyrone: M O’Neill; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb, T McCann, P Harte; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; D McClure, N Sludden, N McKenna; D McCurry, C McShane, L Brennan
Fermanagh: TBA
