Allianz Football League Division Three, R5
Down 1-18 Fermanagh 1-15
By Peter McGrath Jnr
A LATE Fermanagh goal left the final scoreline suggesting this game was a lot tighter than it was in reality.
For much of the 70 minutes, Down were comfortable.
They assumed control on the pitch and on the scoreboard and the result rarely seemed in doubt.
When Ronan McCaffrey netted stylishly with five minutes of injury time to play, Fermanagh seemed hopeful they could launch a smash and grab that would see them take something from the game but Down repelled any attempts for further scores and held on for a deserved victory.
The early minutes saw Pat Havern make his mark on the game.
The Saval man scored four of Down’s first seven points, three of those from play.
Most were curled over with the inside of the right foot from along the stand side as Down found joy attacking the Fermanagh flanks.
Down also probed down the centre and, in a strange game that lacked real bite or intensity, holes were punctured with relative ease.
Adam Crimmins nabbed a point as Down were first to respond to a ball dropping off the post, Ceilum Doherty got onto a hand pass popped over the heads of the Fermanagh defence to clip over and, the hugely impressive Callum Rogers landed a point that his performance deserved.
Fermanagh’s responses were fleeting.
Most of their forays forward were reversed but Ronan McCaffrey and Darragh McGurn did get them off the mark with a Cian O’Brien free making it 0-7 to 0-3 approaching the 20-minute mark.
Then Down struck the net.
Sean McNally had already made a sharp save from Tom Close in the 15th minute but he couldn’t keep Down at bay for a second time.
Odhran Murdock won the ball off Shaun McCarron.
The dispossession was all too easy and the Fermanagh man would make way shortly after.
Murdock found Ceilum Doherty who slipped the ball onward to Miceal Rooney but his shot was splendidly saved by McNally only for the rebound to fall into the path of Odhran Murdock who had continued his run and knocked it to the net.
Unfortunately for Declan Bonner’s side, the experienced man they injected for McCarron – Declan McCusker – clearly wasn’t up to the speed of the game when he was handed a free kick to take within seconds of entering the fray.
An attempted crossfield pass was intercepted and Murdock was able to loft over for another Down point.
Fermanagh responded with back-to-back scores.
Darragh McGurn, their most impressive player by a distance, executed an excellent shimmy and sidestep before blasting over while Conor Love reminded Down of the terror he inflicted on their defence in last year’s championship meeting with some brilliant play that resulted in his first point of the game.
As the rain began to fall, lit up brilliantly by the Newry floodlights, Down continued to lash misery on the visiting defence.
Pat Havern and Adam Crimmins were again on target, Ceilum Doherty doing particularly well in the lead up to Crimmins’ score.
Fermanagh replied through Declan McCusker and Garvan Jones and, the Ernemen were given a lift right before the break as their ‘keeper, Sean McNally, rose well to catch a Tom Close shot above the crossbar and prevent a Down point.
At the interval, Down led by six but this game had the feel of one that should have a greater distance between the sides, given how lacklustre Fermanagh were in the opening moiety.
In the opening ten minutes of the second half, Fermanagh actually made the better scoring start.
Odhran Murdock and Adam Crimmins got two of the first three points but Fermanagh had their best scoring spurt of the night as Love and Jones got them moving, Ciaran Corrigan fisted over from the left side and Darragh McGurn found space down the middle, slicing over a fabulous two-point score to cut the deficit to three.
Just when it seemed Down might be dragged into a contest, they replied with three quickfire points.
A buildup down the left dragged the defence across and two sharp passes saw the ball moved to Adam Crimmins who had held a wide right position and the Mayobridge man continued his fine form on the evening with another score.
Fermanagh could have narrowed the gap to three again but struck wide and Tom Close caught the long Down kickout, sent it forward to Eamon Brown who had the advantage of an advanced mark so, despite missing his initial effort, he was able to settle himself and convert the mark.
Down were attacking again a minute later when referee, Sean Lonergan, stopped play and proceeded to book Fermanagh manager Declan Bonner.
The result was an immediate 20m free for Down which Pat Havern popped over.
Darragh McGurn and Mattie McDermott pointed at the other end but Havern was again on the mark from the dead ball to edge the gap back to five before Callum Rogers got forward again and nonchalantly converted his second of the night.
As Down’s corner back had done, so too did Fermangh’s.
Luke Flanagan shot like a corner forward to score impressively but Fermanagh’s cause was hindered by a black card shown to Darragh McGurn.
Liam Kerr scored for the first time this season from a handy free kick before the McCaffrey goal had Fermanagh renewed hope.
Despite a very late Eamon Brown black card that coincided with McGurn returning for the final minute of added on time, Down held on.
The win puts Conor Laverty’s men on the cusp of promotion with one point from the final two games guaranteeing an immediate return to Division Two.
TEAMS Down: Ronan Burns; Peter Fegan, Pierce Laverty, Callum Rogers 0-2; Shane Annett, Ryan Magill, Daniel Guinness; Odhran Murdock 1-2, Ryan McEvoy; Adam Crimmins 0-4, Ceilum Doherty 0-1, Miceal Rooney; Tom Close, Pat Havern 0-7, John McGeough
Subs: Eamon Brown 0-1 for M Rooney (28), Liam Kerr 0-1 for John McGeough (51), Barry O’Hagan for T Close (61), Ruairi O’Hare for P Havern (67)
Fermanagh: Sean McNally; Jonathan Cassidy, Oisin Smyth, Luke Flanagan 0-1; Shane McGullion, Ronan McCaffrey 1-1, Josh Largo-Elis; Brandon Horan, Darragh McGurn 0-5; Joe McDade, Shaun McCarron, Aogan Kelm; Cian O’Brien 0-1, Garvan Jones 0-2, Conor Love 0-2
Subs: Declan McCusker 0-1 for S McCarron (21), Ciaran Corrigan 0-1 for A Kelm (35), Conor McGee for B Horan (53), Conor O’Hanlon for C Love (67)
