Ulster SFC Quarter-final: Fermanagh 0-10 Donegal 0-6 Welcome to the dark ages. Traffic was deadlocked in Enniskillen on a humid Sunday evening and so the departing fans sat unable to move, windows down and radios blaring with talk of goals and points and rapturous excitement in faraway Croke Park.
Somewhere deep in the administrative bowels of Croke Park, there must be a map of Ireland with a red alarm bell flashing over the northwest. If this derby is a true reflection of what is happening in both counties, then the future of the game is in trouble, boys. It is time to call the doctor.
As a result taken in isolation, this was a significant day for Fermanagh football. Once the eternal victims of the mean streets of Ulster football, they have toughened up and learned to believe and are in with a good shout of a provincial final appearance.
But they must discover the imagination to match the brawn and stamina if they are genuinely to progress. This was football at its most brutal and even if Fermanagh wanted to throw the match, it would have been hard for them to do so, short of taking shots at their own goal.
Donegal were that bad. The local power torch has definitely moved across the Border. Fermanagh treated Donegal with a respect they inherited over the past five decades but there is no doubt it is the southern county that is ailing.
Fermanagh at least appear to have a desire to live and had they been bolder earlier on, they could have handed their neighbours the kind of drubbing they themselves have suffered on many June days.
For counties who traditionally emphasise their ball-skills, both teams seemed preoccupied with physical engagement here. Referee Seamus McCormack failed to establish full authority on 70 minutes of attrition, with constant body-checking, wild lunges, occasional fists and ceaseless dragging. Fermanagh won because they maintained a puritan work rate and showed a touch of class in the rare periods of broken play, with Stephen Maguire and Raymond Gallagher contributing three fine points that stood out like stars on a black night.
Paul Brewster and Marty McGrath cleaned the store out at midfield despite Donegal's attempts to populate that area with a village of candidates. They shot eight first-half wides to leave themselves just 0-6 to 0-4 ahead at the break and lost Colm Bradley after 56 minutes but even that could not persuade Donegal to make a game of it.
The departure of Brendan Devenney, rumoured to be on fire over the past few weeks, after just 10 minutes was really the beginning of the end for Donegal. The return of the Letterkenny man was to be the one consolation of a dismal league season and the timing of his injury was cruel. But even allowing for the disruptive force of his absence, this was a black day for Donegal football.
They failed to register a score for 33 minutes, managed just two points in the entire second half, were torn asunder in several critical areas and wasted a staggering amount of ball. But most worrying was that fact that when they trailed by just 0-8 to 0-5 against 14 men with 10 minutes remaining, they appeared lifeless and resigned to losing, as if they had accepted it as their fate. And this was mostly the same team who came within a hair's breadth of getting to an All-Ireland semi-final last August.
Players who glimmered with promise and confidence on that grand stage looked like haunted figures here. A deep malaise set into the team shortly after that replay against Dublin and its affect was still evident yesterday. It was notable that Niall McCready, absent from the panel last season, was perhaps the only player to leave the field with an enhanced reputation.
Fermanagh can and must improve. Young Barry Owens had a fine day at full back - even if Devenney's departure was a godsend and they are structured and purposeful. Tom Brewster will bring with him more subtlety but it is a pity that Rory Gallagher opted to leave football on the eve of the very season his team-mates have a realistic hope of claiming Fermanagh's first Ulster title.
For Donegal, the issue is no longer about titles or even winning games, it is more fundamental. The problem is not that they were beaten but the manner of their defeat. Whatever their weaknesses, this is simply not a six point team. Another bad result in the qualifiers and the state of the game in the county could genuinely fall into a black hole.
It is ironic that on the sideline for the bleakest display that most people could remember were Brian McEniff and PJ McGowan, the only two men who have brought All-Ireland silverware to the county. Football has been lean in Donegal before but generally attractive and never less than respectable. This performance was a compromise of that legacy.
So Fermanagh survey the wreckage of an Ulster season with high hearts. Armagh, Derry, Donegal and Cavan, names that stalked them through countless bad dreams; all are gone. The road to the kingdom is bright and shining but still treacherous.
FERMANAGH: 1 Ronan Gallagher; 2 N Cox, 3 B Owens, 4 M Lilley; 5 R McCloskey, 22 K Gallagher, 7 S McDermott; 8 B Brewster, 9 M McGrath; 21 C Bradley, 11 Raymond Gallagher (0-4, 3fs), 12 R Johnston; 13 R McCabe (0-4, 2fs), 14 S Maguire (0-2), R Keenan. Subs: J Sherry for R Johnston 65 mins; C O'Reilly for R Keenan 68 mins.
DONEGAL: 1 T Blake; 2 D Diver, 3 E Reddin, 4 N McCready; 5 R Sweeney, 6 B Monaghan, 7 K Cassidy; 8 J Gildea, 9 J McGuinness; 10 C Toye, 11 M Hegarty, 12 J Haran; 13 A Sweeney (0-4, 3fs), 14 B Devenney, 15 B Roper (0-1). Subs: 20 J McCafferty for B Devenney 11 mins, inj; J Ruane for J McCafferty 38 mins; N McGinley for K Cassidy 53 mins; C McFadden (0-1) for C Toye 54 mins; S McDermott for J Haran 60 mins.
Referee: S McCormack (Meath)
