Westville Hotel Fermanagh SFL Division One final: Erne Gaels 0-11 Kinawley 0-10
ERNE Gaels secured the Fermanagh SFL Division One title for the first time since 1996 with a one-point win over Kinawley in a tight encounter at Brewster Park yesterday.
The Belleek men were never behind in the game and went in at the break with a 0-5 to 0-4 lead, although Kinawley saw a Sean McManus penalty saved by Erne Gaels goalkeeper Brian Ryder late in the first half.
By the midway stage of the second half the sides were locked together at 0-7 apiece but Erne Gaels then rattled off three points in a row to lead 0-10 to 0-7 with 57 minutes on the clock.
The Brian Borus kept battling and closed the gap back to a point in injury time but they had a late Lorcan McKenna 45 drift wide as Erne Gaels held on to claim the victory.
This was a cagey affair throughout with the s i d e s t r a d i n g points early on through Ryan Lyons and Sean McManus. But Erne Gaels moved ahead as Oisin Kelm popped over a score before Lyons added his second after a good break by Tommy McCaffrey to make it 0-3 to 0-1.
The sides continued to trade scores with Sean McManus and McKenna on target for Kinawley while Aoghan Kelm and Lyons tagged on points for Erne Gaels to leave it 0-5 to 0-3 with 26 minutes played.
The Brian Borus were then offered the chance to get their noses in front when Aaron O’Reilly was upended close to goal.
But Sean McManus had his effort well saved by Ryder and from the rebound McManus crashed a shot off the crossbar as Erne Gaels survived.
McManus did land a free late in the half to leave one between the sides at the interval.
The lead was back out to two on the resumption when Shane Rooney slotted over a free, but half-time substitute Ruairi Corrigan answered for Kinawley before McKenna drilled over a 45 to level things.
Kinawley then kicked four wides in-a-row as they failed to make the most of a dominant spell and instead Rooney slotted over at the other end to put Erne Gaels back in front.
A Shea Keenan point tied up matters once again as the contest moved into the final quarter but with Oisin Kelm, Rooney and Odhran Johnston knocking over points the Belleek outfit moved into a 0-10 to 0-7 lead.
Points from McManus and Paddy McGovern brought Kinawley back to within one, but they could not find an equaliser as an Ultan Kelm free nudged Erne Gaels two in front in added-on time.
Another McManus point left the minimum separating the sides deep in added on time but McKenna’s last-gasp chance to send the game to extra-time tailed wide as Erne Gaels finished up one-point winners.
Erne Gaels: B Ryder; C Keown, P Ward, J McCann; U Kelm (0-1 free), B Mullin, O Kelm (0-2); M Óg McGarrigle, G McGloin; M Gilfeddar, R Lyons (0-3, 0-2 frees), A Kelm (0-1); T McCaffrey, D McCann, B McCann
Subs: S Rooney (0-3, 0-2 frees) for B McCann (temp), O Johnston (0-1) for D McCann, G Deery for A Kelm
Kinawley: O Melanaphy; N Bogue, J Allen, L Owens; C Murphy, A O’Cathain, P McGovern (0-1); A Tierney, E McManus; A O’Reilly, S McManus (0-5, 0-2 frees), D Owens; S Keenan (0-1), L McKenna (0-2, 0-1 45), R McAloon
Subs: R Corrigan 0-01 for McAloon, S Doherty for Keenan, D McGovern for Owens, P Breen for Tierney, B Corrigan for A O’Reilly
Referee: N Sweeney
