Allianz Football League Division 2 – Fermanagh 0-18 Clare 1-10

Fermanagh defeated Clare by 0-18 to 1-10 in Round 5 of the Allianz Football League Division 2 on Sunday March 19th at Brewster Park Enniskillen.

Allianz FL D2: Quigley stars for Fermanagh

Allianz Football League Division Two

FERMANAGH 0-18 CLARE 1-10

Report By Orla Bannon for GAA.ie

Fermanagh boosted their hopes of survival in Division Two of the Allianz Football League, Sean Quigley’s accuracy from dead balls giving them a comfortable home win over Clare. After three heavy defeats in a row, Pete McGrath’s side badly needed two league points in Brewster Park and Quigley’s timing was perfect, hitting 0-8, including five frees and two ’45’s to lift Fermanagh off the bottom of the table. The sides were level four times in the opening half with Fermanagh leading 0-8 to 0-7 at the break.

Fermanagh had six different scorers from play in the opening half and recovered from the early blow of losing Tomas Corrigan to a calf injury after just eight minutes. Clare relied mostly on frees with Eoin Cleary and David Tubridy scoring all their first-half points between them, Cleary with 0-5 (four frees) before the break. Knowing they needed a win to stand any hope of avoiding relegation, Fermanagh came out with renewed purpose at the start of the second half and scored three points in a row, Eddie Courtney and Aidan Breen from play to take a healthy 0-11 to 0-7 lead.

Clare, who should have been full of confidence after beating Cork last time out, offered little resistance in the second half against the wind. But they did hit 1-1 in a two-minute spell to cancel out Fermanagh’s early second-half scores. Keelan Sexton palmed a goal to the net after 46 minutes and Tubridy’s free levelled matters at 0-11 to 1-8.

Fermanagh, who leaked four goals last time out against Kildare, responded brilliantly to the setback and scored the next five points in a row. Quigley struck the ball superbly off the ground to land two ’45’s and a monster free to stretch the home side clear. He could have had at least one goal, Clare goalkeeper Joe Hayes coming off his line smartly to block Quigley’s low shot with his legs. Aidan Breen scored three second-half points while Barry Mulrone had a hand in most of Fermanagh’s attacks to ensure an important victory ahead of next week’s trip to Meath.

Scorers for Fermanagh: Sean Quigley 0-8 (5fs, 2 ’45’s), Aidan Breen 0-3, Eddie Courtney, Barry Mulrone 0-2 each, Paul McCusker 0-1, Ryan Jones 0-1, Tomas Corrigan 0-1.

Scorers for Clare: Eoin Cleary 0-5 (3fs), David Tubridy 0-4 (2fs), Keelan Sexton 1-0, Jamie Malone 0-1.

FERMANAGH: Thomas Treacy; Mickey Jones, Che Cullen, Kane Connor; Conor Murphy; Barry Mulrone, Aidan Breen; Eoin Donnelly, Lee Cullen; Paul McCusker, Ryan Jones, Ryan Lyons: Eddie Courtney, Sean Quigley, Tomas Corrigan.
Subs: Eoin McManus for Corrigan (8), Eoin McManus for Corrigan (8), Declan McCusker for Murphy (48), James McMahon for Lyons (50), Darryl Keenan for McManus (57), Tommy McCaffrey for Courtney (70), Cathal Beacom for P McCusker (70).

CLARE: Joe Hayes; Martin McMahon, Kevin Harnett, John Hayes; Liam Markham, Gordon Kelly, Dean Ryan; Cathal O’Connor, Gary Brennan; Cian O’Dea, Keelan Sexton, Shane Brennan; Eoin Cleary, David Tubridy, Jamie Malone
Subs: David Egan for O’Dea (53), Eoghan Collins for John Hayes (62), Seanie Malone for Cleary (64), Darren Nagle for Ryan (65).

REFEREE: Marty Duffy (Sligo).

Fixture Details

19.03.2017 (Sun)
Allianz Football League Roinn 2 Round 5
Brewster Park, Enniskillen 14:00
Fear Manach v An Clár
Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligeach)