FERMANAGH have made two changes for Sunday’s Ulster Championship first round meeting with Tyrone.
Full-forward Sean Quinn, who had been struggling with a hamstring injury, wasn’t judged fit enough to retain his starting place at training last night.
He sustained the injury in a challenge game almost two weeks ago and was unable to take a full part in an earlier training session last Monday night.
His place will be taken by Belcoo man Stephen Maguire, who was named among the substitutes both against Monaghan and also last year against Cavan although he didn’t play on either occasion.
It is a risk that manager Pat King is willing to take but Maguire, who has played for the county both in National Football League and challenge games, will find short change from the Tyrone full-back line, led by captain Chris Lawn.
In defence, Paul Courtney returns to the ranks to make his Championship debut after being suspended for the Monaghan game.
He will line out at right cornerback freeing up Tommy Callaghan to move into the half-back line in place of Michael Lilly.
Lilly has been hampered by an ankle injury and isn’t fit enough for a starting role but he could come off the subs bench at some stage during the game.
The experience of Irvinestown man Courtney will certainly help strengthen the defence.
Much will again be expected of ace forward Tom Brewster who put in a match-winning display last day. The Enniskillen Gaels man was the star of the show with six points including some superb free-taking.
The onerous task of marking Tyrone forward Peter Canavan would appear to fall to team captain Paddy McGuinness but he will be full of confidence following his last Championship outing when he successfully shackled Monaghan dangerman Declan Smyth.
Fermanagh (SFC v Tyrone): C McAdam, P Courtney, P McGuinness, T Callaghan, S Burns, T Collins, K Gallagher, P Brewster, L McBarron, R Johnson, T Brewster, D McGrath, Raymond Gallagher, S Maguire, S King. Subs: Ronan Gallagher, M Lilly, S Breen, N Cox, C Courtney, S Quinn, S McDermott, D McNulty, C Bradley, P Quinn, K Cassidy, C Monaghan, K Donnelly.
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Cavan outfit Swan off with sevens trophy
CAVAN side Swanlinbar won the inaugural Ulster Junior Sevens tournament held at Ballykinlar and Dundrum, Co Down at the weekend.
They defeated Granemore (Armagh) after extra-time in a nail-biting finale to the oneday competition. There were many notable performances throughout the day with former Armagh minor player Brendan Rafferty (Granemore) just being edged out by Robbie Prior of Swanlinbar who was voted the Laoch an Lae – the tournament’s most outstanding player.
The GAA’s President-elect Sean McCague was in attendance to present the various winners with their prizes.
The Cavan victors edged through to the quarter-final stages despite losing a group game to Derrylin of Fermanagh.They went on to beat Bright (Down) and Killeevan (Monaghan) in the quarter-final and semi-final stages, respectively before winning the decider.
Ballykinlar’s Raphael Mason, who helped to organise the innovative seven-a-side tournament, said that its design was to give the Division Three and Four teams around Ulster a greater profile.
He said: “By and large the lower divisions are neglected in many senses, so we thought the competition would give them a boost.”
The idea originated from the very successful St Jude’s (Dublin) club who host a seven-a-side tournament each year and where Ballykinlar have competed for the past five years.
Next year Mason hopes to have club representatives from each province of the country, similar to the St Jude’s tournament.
