McCarthy’s men stung by late Erne equaliser

Fermanagh 0-8 Cork 1-5

DISAPPOINTING? Naturally. To lose a point to a last minute point will always sting and, yet, the Rebels still probably have reason to see it as a point gained. The power of positive thinking and all that.

Remember Cork were down to 14 men with 28 minutes to play and were struggling to get their hand on go-forward ball. Fermanagh, though, spurned a series of shots from play and placed ball and if they had converted half them the visitor’s goose would have been cooked.

The Rebels, however, had an ace up their sleeve. A divine pass from Ian Maguire unstitched the Fermanagh blanket and Mattie Taylor skipped past the challenges before hitting the net nine minutes left to play. Cork were a point up now and duly set about shutting up shop.

It very nearly worked too, but with time almost up Ryan Jones pounced on a stray pass from a free kick near the sideline and found Conall Jones for an offensive mark. Jones called the mark himself and Anthony Nolan decided to let it stand.

Cork weren’t best pleased with the decision and their protestations led to the Wicklow man bringing the free into easily scoreable range. The Derrygonnelly man converted and left Cork with a long trip home to contemplate what might have been.

The first half was an extended exercise is shaking off ring rust, with both sides reluctant to commit to the attack or break tackles, content just to get the hand on leather.

The game settled into a pattern of each side enjoying extended possession before a score, a miss or passing error gave the opposition their turn on the ball.

Fermanagh started brightly, Conall Jones slipping over a free after Declan McCusker was hauled down two minutes in. That, however was as good as it got for the hosts in the first half.

After a lot of probing it took a moment off individual brilliance from Luke Connolly to opening the scoring for Cork, the Nemo man taking responsibility and slicing over a driven shot from 30 metres.

Cork remained in control from then on in, edging ahead and staying there after fifteen minutes. The sides went in at Fermanagh 0-1 Cork 0-4, both sides still well in the contest.

The Erne men got off to the perfect start on the resumption, winning the throw-in and setting Aidan Breen off and running and his rifled point gave the home support their first score from play to cheer.

A minute later Ultan Kelm stole possession from a wayward pass by Ruairi Deane and passed off to Eoin Donnelly. The Erne captain teed up Declan McCusker and he belted over a well struck shot from the left wing.

Cork weren’t standing back either though and only an outstanding block by Thomas Treacy prevented Ruairi Deane finding the net after he was put through by Ian Maguire.

With 39 minutes on the clock it was all square. Again Eoin Donnelly was instrumental, winning possession and finding Ciaran Corrigan in space and the Maguiresbridge man clipped over a composed effort.

With play starting to opening up Mark White found Ronan O’Toole from the kick out and he picked out Eoghan McSweeney who teed up Luke Connolly to fire the visitors back into the lead. At that point Cork’s challenge was rocked back on its heels as Nolan flashed yellow cards at Che Cullen and Ruairi Deane. That was the influential Deane’s second yellow and with that, the Bantry man’s game was at an end.

Fermanagh had the momentum and looked set to push on from there. A minute after Deane’s dismissal Seán Quigley flicked a fist pass across the face of goal where Danny Teague gathered rather than first timing to the net.

Even after Teague had collected it looked like the goal was on a split second, but Cork shut the door and the Maguiresbridge man elected to fist over and level it up at five apiece.

Five minutes later Fermanagh took the lead for the first time. Declan McCusker was pulled down as he cut through on the posts and Seán Quigley tapped over from the placed ball.

Then Aidan Breen went on a lateral run before slipping off to Conall Jones who unleashed a thunderous left foot shot to make it Fermanagh 0-7 Cork 0-5. The hosts weren’t making their chances count though. Mark White clawed successive shots from Aidan Breen and Conall Jones from over the crossbar, and a number of other shots from scoreable positions failed to find the target at all.

Then with nine minutes remaining Cork hit Fermanagh with a thunderbolt. Ian Maguire laid off a delicate pass to Mattie Taylor and the wingback showed his dancing feet to create space before lashing to the net from the edge of the small rectangle.

That gave Cork a slender cushion to hold on to, but it Fermanagh piled on the pressure in the last ten minutes. A fine reaction save from Mark White on Ultan Kelm kept the Rebels noses in front and when Garvan Jones, Ciaran Corrigan and Thomas Treacy’s all passed up equalising opportunities it was looking like it just might be their day. Not to be though. Two minutes into injury time a stray kick from a Cork free in midfield was intercepted by Ryan Jones. He instantly pinged a pass to his unmarked brother Conall who collected and called the offensive mark. Protests saw it brought up and the Derrygonnelly man tapped over to leave it honours even in this slow burner of a contest. FERMANAGH: Thomas Treacy; Jonny Cassidy, Che Cullen, Lee Cullen; Ultan Kelm, James McMahon, Kane Connor; Eoin Donnelly, Ryan Jones; Aidan Breen (0-1), Declan McCusker (0-1), Ciaran Corrigan (0-1); Daniel Teague (0-1), Conall Jones (0-3, 2f), Kevin McDonnell Subs: Sean Quigley (0-1f) for K McDonnell, 25, Ryan Lyons for K Connor, HT, Garvan Jones for D Teague, 55, Darragh McGurn for J McMahon, 65, Shane McGullion for D McCusker, 69

CORK: Mark White; Kevin O’Donovan, Kevin Flahive, Conor Dennehy; James Loughrey (0-1), Tom Clancy, Mattie Taylor (1-0); Ian Maguire, Ronan O’Toole; Tom Clancy, Eoghan McSweeney (0-1), Ruairi Deane (0-1f); Damien Gore, Brian Hurley, Luke Connolly (0-2) Subs: Cillian O’Hanlon for R O’Toole, 51, Michael Hurley for B Hurley, 51, John O’Rourke for D Gore, 55, Liam O’Donovan for J Loughrey, 55, Sean White for E McSweeney, 66

REFEREE: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow)