Cavan march on as four are shown red
CAVAN booked their place in round three of the All Ireland Qualifiers with a two point win in a game that saw four red cards. Three of those came as a result of a melee after the final whistle with Cavan duo, Dara McVeety and Conor Moynagh and Down’s Anthony Doherty seeing red.
The game itself was turned on its head during a two-minute spell in the second half. Ryan Johnston, who had been impressive for Down and a major weapon in their transition from defence to attack, was sent to the line for striking.
Ten minutes had gone in the second half at that point with Down four points to the good and in control but a minute later Shane Harrison dropped a Gearóid McKiernan shot into the net to throw the Breffni men a lifeline.
No scores arrived for the following ten minutes but Cavan hit the next two through Niall Murray and Ciarán Brady to take the lead.
The sides went on to exchange points, leaving Cavan a point up in injury time.
Down were pressing however and after a patient build-up, Darren O’Hagan broke through along the end line and when faced with the choice of a fisted point or an effort on goal he chose the latter but James Farrelly was equal to the task in the Cavan goal. That attack came in the fourth minute of injury time before McKiernan hit the game’s final score for Cavan. The game, a home tie for Cavan which was played in Brewster Park Enniskillen, had started brightly for the Breffni men and they worked their way into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead with three Sean Johnston frees helping them on their way. Down worked their way back into the game with Seán Dornan impressing in attack and Doherty and Ronan Millar accurate from frees. Connaire Harrison and Kevin McKernan were black carded following a sequence of play on the 26-minute mark but despite this Down finished the half the stronger with Peter Turley, Niall Madine and Dornan all scoring to give them a two-point advantage, 0-10 to 0-8, at the break.