New York GAA Docherty is Fermanagh’s Duracell man

By Mike Fitzpatrick

Fermanagh 2-10, Down 0-9

Fermanagh gained their first victory of the season with this hard-fought junior football "A" battle versus northern rivals Down.

Both sides lost to Rangers earlier in the season and though putting up a brave battle versus Donegal a couple of weeks back, Fermanagh lost out on that occasion also.

This is one of the tougher divisions to predict the outcome of, with Rangers and Donegal both looking good this year in their games so far.

This Northern derby started off on an even keel, with both sides matching each other in terms of scoring and defending.

Fermanagh began to take control of the tie late in the first half when points from Ronan McCabe, Darren Boyle and Rory Judge began to edge them past their opponents.

Down fought back, registering points from Kevin Shepherd and Michael McCabe, but as the game wore on, it became apparent that too much emphasis was being placed upon the shoulders of Shepherd, and the Fermanagh backline of Sean Mohan and Paul McFlynn began to close down on him, denying him room to shoot.

As the second half wore on, Fermanagh found their footing on a more regular basis and began to cruise into a lead. From then on, they seldom looked like relinquishing.

Some good midfield play from Philip Mallon resulted in a move which set up Damian Docherty for a Fermanagh goal.

Docherty’s enthusiasm for the game must be commended, having already endured a hurling game earlier in the day in the unbelievable heat.

Toward the end, Fermanagh had toward the end of the tie moved into a commanding lead, and a point from Rory Judge and the game’s second goal from his teammate McCabe really killed off any hope Down had of gaining anything from the tie.

This was an important victory for Fermanagh, giving them their first points of the campaign, and in doing so opening up the table a little. They must now hope that the big guns of the division continue to take points from each other.

Fermanagh: Martin McCann, Noel McGovern, Kieran Lee, Gene Mulligan, Sean Mohan, Paul McFlynn (0-1), Declan Campbell, Philip Mallon (0-1), Sean Melly, Darren Doherty (1-2), Paul McGuirk, Ronan McCabe (1-1), Darren Boyle (0-2), Rory Judge (0-3), Marty McGlade. Sub: Brian Shannon.

Down: Paul Morgan, Ronan Kearney, James Power, Martin McGivern, Liam Murray, Conor Biggs, Jake Rooney, Collie Mathers (0-1), Paul Keague, Stephen McGee (0-1), Michael McCabe (0-1), Kevin Sheppherd (0-6), Ronan Mulligan, Pauric Tunney, Gerard O’Hare.