Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FERM UP MY PLAN
Rory outlines aims ahead of winner-takes-all clash
FERMANAGH boss Rory Gallagher knows his side are up against it as they gear up for Sunday’s winner-takes-all clash with Longford. The Erne men make the trip to Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in the final round of Division Three games knowing that only a win will grant them an immediate return to Division Two.
With a superior scoring difference, a draw would be enough for the midlanders. Gallagher said: “We’re no different than anyone else, you want to play at as high a level as you can.
“We’d be delighted if we could get up. It’d be a great way to go into the Championship.” Gallagher was in charge of Donegal last year when they won a nervy qualifier against Longford by five points after trailing for long periods, with a red card for Denis Connerton’s side proving significant. He said: “We were very impressed with them and having watched them in the League this year, even up in Armagh, Armagh ground it out in the end with a goal and won by a point but Longford left it behind.
“That day Longford played a good period of the game a man down. I was very impressed with them and they’ve been building nicely. It’s set up for a real good test for both teams.”
Fermanagh come into the game on the back of a surreal 0-7 each draw with Armagh last Sunday – the lowest-scoring game of this year’s League across all four divisions – having had two men sent off.
Gallagher said: “The pitch was exceptionally heavy. There was a swirling breeze and it wasn’t ideal for free-flowing football or anything like that but lookit, we’d be disappointed.
“We were 0-5 to 0-1 up at half-time and we felt we had another few chances, we probably should have been 0-7 or 0-8 to 0-1 up.
“Then we struggled for possession in the middle, we didn’t create enough chances in the second half.
“The way the game panned out, going down to 13 men the last 12 or 13 minutes, we were grateful to get out of there with a draw.
“It’s a shoot-out now between ourselves and Longford and I think there’ll be a clear-cut winner.”