ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIERS ROUND ONE: Cavan 3-13 Fermanagh 0-15FOR A long time, it looked like the only cheer the Cavan supporters were going to get yesterday was the Kildare result from Croke Park. When it was announced over the PA, 10 minutes into the second-half at Brewster Park, that Kildare and their new recruit Seánie Johnston had been beaten, the Breffni faithful were in full voice.
And, boy, they needed a laugh.
Trailing by six points at 0-13 to 0-7 to a rampant Fermanagh side, it looked like it was going to be another tame exit from the All-Ireland football qualifiers for Cavan.
But from the moment Gearóid McKiernan hit the net in the 51st minute, this first round tie was turned on its head. Cavan hit 2-2 in a devastating four-minute spell; McKiernan having a hand in the second goal by Niall McDermott.Daniel Kille hit nine points for Fermanagh, eight from frees, and one of those efforts on the hour mark appeared to stop the rot after the concession of an unanswered 2-3 in the previous 10 minutes.
There was still plenty of time for Fermanagh to steady themselves, and they only trailed by three. Yet within 20 seconds, the ball was in the back of their net for a third time.
Eugene Keating, the man who scored 0-5 from play against Donegal last time out, drilled a third goal past Ronan Gallagher to seal an astonishing comeback for Cavan.
It was their first win in the championship since beating Wicklow in the qualifiers in 2010. But if they were going to win anywhere, it was going to be in Brewster Park – the scene of both their Ulster under-21 final victories in the past two seasons.
Many of those underage stars were on the field yesterday, McKiernan and Jack Brady leading the fight. Jason McLoughlin came on early in the second half with his team in disarray and he was a hero, putting his body on the line in a stunning defensive display.
The brilliance of Cavan’s comeback, however, must be measured against Fermanagh’s response to it. After the first goal went in, Cavan’s players visibly grew in self-belief, but Fermanagh went into their shell, similar to their collapse in the Division Four League final defeat to Wicklow.
And was it a coincidence that the tide started to turn against Fermanagh just after it was announced Kildare had been beaten at Croke Park?
“It was strange all right,” admitted Peter Canavan. “I’d like to think that was the only reason that cost us, but it wasn’t. For 50, 55 minutes we played beautiful football and you couldn’t see them hurting us.
“But we started giving away cheap possession around the middle and the first goal ignited them. I’m not sure if the players even heard the announcement, but no, it didn’t help.”
Cavan boss Terry Hyland insisted he hadn’t heard the Kildare result being announced. As far as he was concerned, his team started taking chances they had been missing earlier. The stats did back up that argument to some extent, but Cavan had had a lot of possession, kicking 15 wides to Fermanagh’s five.
The loss of David Givney at the end of the first half looked like it was another blow they were going to have to absorb, but once the first goal went in, their body language utterly changed.
Suddenly they started cleaning up around midfield, winning everything. The Fermanagh defence parted straight down the middle. Kevin Tierney could have hit them for a fourth goal late on only for a good save by Ronan Gallagher, who really couldn’t have been faulted for any of the goals.
Everything that could go wrong for Fermanagh, did. But Cavan came at them in waves, McKiernan powering through from midfield and setting up the goals for McDermott and Keating, as well as scoring the all-important first.
FERMANAGH: 1 R Gallagher; 4 B Cox, 3 B Owens, 18 J Woods; 6 N McGovern, 7 B Mulrone, 20 C Quigley; 8 S Lyons, 12 R Jones (0-1); 9 E Donnelly, 15 S McCabe, 10 T McElroy; 13 T Corrigan (0-3), 26 P Ward (0-2, 0-1 free), 14 D Kille (0-9, 0-8 frees). Subs: D McCusker for McElroy (52 mins), M McGrath for Cox (54 mins), Sean Quigley for Ward (63 mins), M Jones for C Quigley (63 mins), P Cosgrove for Mulrone (68 mins). Yellow cards: T Corrigan (11 mins); S Lyons (35 mins); S McCabe (59 mins); E Donnelly (64 mins).
CAVAN: 1 B McVeigh; 4 D Tighe, 2 K Clarke, 3 P O'Reilly; 5 M McKeever, 7 F Flanagan, 6 D Reilly (0-1); 8 D Givney, 9 T Corr (0-1); 12 R Flanagan, 11 G McKiernan (1-1), 10 N Smith (0-1); 13 N McDermott (1-1, 0-1 free), 14 E Keating (1-1), 15 J Brady (0-5, 0-2 frees). Subs: K Tierney (0-1) for Givney (35 mins), J McLoughlin for Clarke (half-time), D McKiernan (0-1) for McKeever (46 mins), K Meehan for Smith (67 mins). Yellow cards: K Clarke (11 mins); T Corr (22 mins); G McKiernan (65 mins).
Referee: B Cassidy (Derry).
