Late Fermanagh defeat was ‘heartbreaking’
Lidl Ladies Division Four
HEARTBREAKING was the word Fermanagh Ladies manager CJ Mcgourty used to sum up his side’s last-minute dramatic defeat to Carlow last Sunday.
Fermanagh led by two points in the Lidl Ladies NFL Division Four semi-final before a high ball into their box was not dealt with and Carlow’s Maeve O’neill pounced for the winning goal.
“Heartbreaking but that’s football, that’s life.
“We sort of killed ourselves at the start of the second half when they got 1-02 or 1-03.
“We dominated maybe 80-85 per cent of the ball at times and just a couple of small decisions let us down going forward and also defensively.
“It is what it is. That was probably the main ambition to get out of the league this year.
“It’s gut-wrenching and it is hard because we probably deserved to get out of it [Division Four].
“We played well enough at times to get out of it, just a wee bit of luck at the end.
“A high ball in and it fell to her and we didn’t have time to recover. It is the worst time to concede a goal, the last kick of the game we didn’t even get one more attack.
“That group of players have had a lot of heartbreak over the years. We tried to change that this year but it didn’t happen for us this day out.”
Fermanagh led by four points at half-time but Carlow turned it into a two-point lead early in the second half before the Erne side responded and looked as if they were going to hold out for the victory.
“We were a wee bit slack on their kickouts which we will not be happy with because we did a lot of work on it.
“I suppose every match brings its own tale. We upped the intensity in that [second half] period and we got on top. From 10-27 minutes in each half, we dominated.
“But that sluggish start at the start of the second half and that last sucker punch. It happens. Eight times out of 10 you clear that ball.
“I’d be more disappointed if we were beaten well or beat tactically but we weren’t it was a wee bit of luck.
“Sometimes that’s sport. We will look to come back from this.”
Fermanagh have nine weeks until they are out in the Ulster Junior Championship and Mcgourty hopes this will his side good: “We will take a week or two off and try and reset.
“The girls are disappointed in there and naturally so, they have put a lot in over the last couple of months.
“We have nine weeks now to the Ulster final we have a good bit of time to get this out of the system let them go back to their clubs for a while and enjoy it and take it from there.”
It meant another year in
Division Four for the Erne ladies but what added extra hurt to the defeat was that Fermanagh had to play a semi-final despite topping the league, eight points ahead of Carlow.
Division Four was the only one out of four that teams played semi-finals.
It is something Mcgourty, while not making it as an excuse for the loss, feels is not right.
“We don’t understand why it’s like that when every team from Division One to Division Four plays seven games and we picked up the most points in any division along with Kildare and don’t get promoted.
“But we can have no excuses. We knew going into Sunday what the consequences would be if we didn’t win.
“But from the start of the year, I couldn’t understand why Division Four started so early and why there are semi-finals,” before adding jokingly: “If they do change it to two [teams getting promoted] next year we will probably finish third knowing our luck.”
CAVAN:
G O’rourke; C Reilly, B O’connell, L Fortune; C Brady, C Reihill (0-01), N Carolan; J Smith (0-02), K Clarke; D Mcveety, O Brady, O Kernan; R O’neill, P Lynch (1-07,6f), C O’ Reilly.
Subs; C O’reilly (0-01) for O’neill (17), T Madden for Kiernan, C Madden (0-01) for O’reilly, C Brady (0-01) for Clarke (h/t), P Meade for Fortune (67)
R Bogue; L Cullen, C Cullen, O Smyth; D Mccusker (0-02), S Mcgullion, C Mcmanus; F O’brien (0-02), J Mcdade; C Mcgee, C Mcshea, R Mccaffrey (0-01); U Kelm, G Jones (1-08,3f), S Cassidy (1-01)
J Largo-elis for Mccaffrey (46), D King for Cassidy (63), O Murphy for Mccusker (66)