Fermanagh’s late rally earns a point against Sligo

Allianz Football League Division Three, round five

Fermanagh 0-19 Sligo 0-19

FERMANAGH produced a stunning late rally to snatch a draw against Sligo in Saturday night’s Division Three encounter at Brewster Park.

Tony McEntee’s Sligo side looked on their way to their first victory of the campaign as a strong second-half showing had them seven ahead as the contest approached the hooter.

But Fermanagh rallied in the closing stages and three two-pointers in-a-row from Declan McCusker, Garvan Jones and Sean Cassidy narrowed the gap to the minimum before Josh Largo Elis picked out goalkeeper Sean McNally in space in front of the Sligo goal and he popped over to earn his side a point with the last action of the game.

“Realistically, with the two-pointers, you can be in the game,” said Erne boss Kieran Donnelly.

“Momentum is a big thing, it is the fact you can win a couple of kickouts on the bounce and then two pointers allow you to stay in the game.

“To be honest, with the way the game has gone, I think you just have to break it down into five-minute segments.

“I did feel that we were starting to get a wee bit of a grip and Joe McDade was exceptional when he came on. When we got a couple of turnovers and got that first two-pointer it lifted us, and I felt they started to tire a bit and we had legs. You never lose hope.”

And Donnelly believes his side can take a lot from how they ended the game.

“Sligo are a good team,” he said. “They are physically big all over the pitch, they have serious athleticism and some exceptional players, and I just said to the players that we can take massive heart from this, the fact we showed huge character to come from that far behind.”

Sligo manager McEntee was also looking to the positives and, while disappointed not to see the game out, he was pleased with his side’s performance.

“Before this, we played three games and had three defeats, but this evening, we were much better,” said the Armagh man.

“We spoke in there about this being the start of our season and it pretty much is and going away to Brewster Park and getting a draw is not easy.

“With 10 minutes to go, yes it should be a win, and yes, it was disappointing that we did not finish out that game.

“But if we take a bit of perspective on this – we played really well and we are up and running with a point on the board after playing really well.”

The first half was well contested but it was the Yeatsmen who went in at the break with a one-point advantage, 0-8 to 0-7, with Niall Murphy, Darragh Cummins and David Quinn to the fore for McEntee’s charges.

And they appeared to be pushing on for the win when they rattled over seven unanswered points in the opening 15 minutes of the second half through Quinn, Patrick O’Connor, Murphy, Ross Doherty, Canice Mulligan and Cummins to move into an eight point lead, 0-15 to 0-7.

It took Fermanagh 16 minutes to land their first point of the second half through Fionan O’Brien and when Darragh McGurn, Sean McNally and Sean Cassidy quickly tagged on scores it brought the Ernemen back to within four.

However, Sligo wrestled back momentum as scores from Alan Reilly, Murphy and Daniel Lyons made it a seven-point game with five minutes to go.

But then came that dramatic conclusion as Fermanagh went for broke with fine two-pointers from McCusker, Jones and Cassidy before the impressive McNally tied the game at the death.

Fermanagh S McNally 0-3; L Cullen, C Cullen, O Smyth; J Cassidy 0-1, D McCusker 0-3 (1tp), F O’Brien 0-3 (0-1f); R McCaffrey, D McGurn 0-1; S McGullion, R Lyons, P Breen; J Largo Elis 0-1, G Jones 0-4 (1tp), C Love

Subs S Cassidy 0-3 (1tp) for Love (16), J McDade for McCaffrey (46), C McGee for McGullion (55), D King for Lyons (64)

Sligo D Lyons 0-1; P McManus, E McGuinness, E Lyons; B Cox, D Cummins 0-3, L Towey; C Mulligan 0-1, D Quinn 0-4 (1tp); R Doherty 0-1, A McLaughlin 0-2 (1tp), P Spillane 0-1; A Reilly, 0-1 P O’Connor 0-1, N Murphy 0-4

Subs C Lally for Quinn (53), N Mullen for Towey (55), M Gordon for Doherty (59), J Lavin for Spillane (70), Kilcoyne for Cummins (70+2)

Referee D Boylan (Monaghan)