BOLD FERM DERBY
Corrigan insists Erne men are adventurous & will prove it against Donegal
Fermanagh Donegal Brewster Park, tomorrow 2pm (live on BBC2 NI and the iplayer)
v CIARAN CORRIGAN has launched a stern defence of Fermanagh’s attack ahead of their clash with Donegal.
The adventurous wing-back provided a steady stream of scores during Fermanagh’s Division Two campaign, which included a win over Donegal in Letterkenny.
However, Rory Gallagher’s (inset) side has been criticised for their poor scoring return.
They narrowly lost out on promotion to Donegal, who finished with two more League points but also crucially a scoring difference of +18, with Fermanagh on -5.
A stat like that might be enough to give some Erne fans a sleepless night before tomorrow’s big first round showdown at Brewster Park, but not Corrigan.
“We attack as much as anyone,” he claimed. “We create enough scoring chances – maybe we create them slightly differently but we work as hard on our attack as on our defence.
“Maybe it’s not the most orthodox way so it’s easy for people to jump on and criticise us.
“In some games weren’t scoring enough but that’s because we weren’t taking our chances. We were getting in good enough scoring positions but that was never talked we about. It was just ‘Fermanagh only scored seven points’ or whatever, but it doesn’t bother us too much.”
Corrigan scored four points from play as Fermanagh came from four points down to beat Donegal by three in the League in February.
The Maguiresbridge clubman said: “We had a good League and was happy enough with my performances.
“Last year I played a similar role, and had enough chances to get forward as well, but maybe I was just playing a bit better this spring.”
But it’s the 12point defeat in last year’s Ulster final that must be a painful memory as they face Donegal again.
With an historic first Ulster SFC title just one game away, they failed to really turn up at Clones and lost 2-18 to 0-12.
“That was the most disappointing thing – not that we lost but that we didn’t perform anywhere near our ability.
“That was our biggest regret, we didn’t do ourselves justice.
“If we’d played to our potential that day I definitely felt we could have got a lot closer, but we have a chance to rectify that.
“In fairness to Donegal they were very good. It’s in Brewster Park this time, which will help, and we’re 12 months further down the line with Rory and the boys, and we definitely feel we’re better equipped to do what they ask of us.”