RORY’S GOING 1 BETTER

Fermanagh 0-12 Clare 0-9 Allianz NFL Division 3

RORY GALLAGHER has promised Fermanagh “won’t lie down” with the bright lights of Division One beckoning after battling past Clare at Brewster Park.

Five games into a division they were favourites to be relegated from, Gallagher’s unbeaten Erne men dug out a deserved win and the manager isn’t blinking.

“We’re not going to lie down, we’re going to go for it, absolutely,” said Gallagher. “Since we beat Kildare here we felt it was in our grasp.

“You break the league down to phases and we felt if we had six, seven or eight points you’d be in with a great chance, but it can turn very quickly.

“Armagh will be hurting again having lost (against Donegal) but we’ll knuckle down and look forward to it. We’re enjoying the way we’re going for it.”

It was 0-6 to 0-5 to Fermanagh at the break, only three of the 11 scores coming from open play.

Sean Quigley (above) had teed up Ryan Lyons for the only real goal chance of the half but his left-footed shot was a good height for the goalkeeper who pushed it round the post for a ‘45, which Quigley converted.

After the break, Ryan Lyons, Declan Mccusker, Ciaran Corrigan and Aidan Breen all scored from play.

Clare will regret they lost Jamie Malone, who’d scored two points in the third quarter, to the sin-bin in the 61st minute when they were just two points down, trailing 0-9 to 0-7.

Fermanagh hit three points – two from play from Breen and Lyons – while the visitors were down to 14 men and survived Sean O’donoghue’s goal-bound shot, which goalkeeper Thomas Treacy saved on the line. FERMANAGH SCORERS – S Quigley 0-6 (5f, 1 ‘45), C Cullen, A Breen, D Mccusker, C Corrigan, R Lyons 0-1 each, K Connor 0-1 (mark) CLARE SCORERS – D Tubridy 0-2f, J Malone 0-2, C Finucane, K Malone, K Sexton 0-1, G Brennan 0-1 (mark), E Cleary 0-1 ‘45