U20s scrape over the line against Fermanagh

Philly McGuinness League round 2

Cavan 0-12

Fermanagh 0-11

Cavan picked up their first win of the year in their only home game of the U20 Development League on Friday night last under lights in Kingspan Breffni thanks to a late rally. As the game entered injury time, Cavan trailed Fermanagh by two points and despite controlling the majority of the ball, they failed to make it count on the scoreboard. The driving wind and rain made for an error-filled game but Shane Tynan judged the wind perfectly with the final kick of the game as he sailed over a 45-metre free to win it.

Fionán O'Brien opened the scoring for Fermanagh in the first minute with the wind at his back. Tynan tapped over a 13-metre free to level the sides after Favour Shehu was fouled. With both sides struggling to adjust to the conditions, it was the 10th minute when Cavan landed the next score. Phillip Smyth gathered a long Cillian Brady kick-out and Oran Rehill soloed to the 13-metre line before pointing with his left.

Cavan were punished for losing their kick-out when Sean Conlon won a free and Fionan O’Brien made no mistake with the dead ball. Cavan regained the lead on the 16th minute when referee Enda Mallon spotted a foul off the ball on Favor Shehu. Knockbride’s Lorcan Reilly converted the free from 13 metres leaving the score 0-3 to 0-2.

With Cavan now taking more control of possession, Ryan Brady drove at the Fermanagh defence and was brought down at the edge of the D. Again Reilly made no mistake with the resulting free, doubling Cavan’s advantage .

Two minutes later Cavan added a third point in a row as Philip Smyth, Evan Crowe and Barry Donnelly worked the ball quickly through their hands. Cootehill’s Ben McGahan received the ball just inside the Fermanagh 45 and blasted over with the outside of his left boot. Cavan, looking comfortable playing against the wind, now held a three-point lead with six minutes remaining in the half.

Fermanagh’s response was just what manager Maurice McLaughlin would have wanted. Within 60 seconds Conor O’Hanlon split the posts at the other end and from the resulting kick-out Justin McDaid pointed to leave just a single point between the sides.

With four minutes remaining in the half the sides were level thanks to a brilliantly hit left-footed free by O’Hanlon from where the 20-metre line meets the side line. Fermanagh, now in control of the ball, pinned Cavan in, dominating the battle for possession on kick-outs.

On the 27th and 28th minutes Fionan O’Brien and Diarmuid King added two more points to the visitors’ tally finishing off a five-score run without a Cavan reply in the previous four minutes. Fermanagh took a 0-7 to 0-5 point lead in at the break with the wind behind the boys in blue for the second half.

Cavan immediately reduced the gap to one after the restart when Lorcan Reilly intercepted a hand pass in the Fermanagh defence and instinctively hooked it over the blue spot. Justin McDaid curled a shot high into the wind a minute later and the umpires raised the white flag despite protests from the Cavan players.

With Cavan’s next attack, Tynan swung a shot from near the right sideline and this time it was Fermanagh who disagreed with the umpires’ decision to raise a white flag. With 43 minutes on the clock, the Ernesiders restored their two-point lead when Sean Conlon intercepted a Cavan restart before sending the ball over the bar.

Shane Tynan and Fionan O’Brien traded frees as Fermanagh replied to every Cavan score with one of their own at the other end. With three minutes of ordinary time remaining, Crosserlough’s Oran Rehill judged the wind perfectly with a long-range point to keep the pressure on Fermanagh, chasing their second win in a row.

In the final minute of the 60, Diarmuid King made light work of the conditions as he drilled a ’45 into the wind and over the bar leaving the score 0-11 to 0-9 to Fermanagh. Sub Cian Keaney gathered an attacking mark from a Cormac McKeogh pass and calmly converted.

Cavan, after losing the Fermanagh kick-out, worked hard to force a turnover and a 40-metre kick pass by Ben McGahan found Oran Rehill in space inside the Fermanagh 45. As Rehill gathered the ball, he lined up for the shot but sold the onrushing defender a bounce dummy and from 40 metres, landed the ball on the blue spot on the crossbar and over to level the match.

With four of the five additional minutes still to play, the game was there to be won. Both sides were guilty of mistakes as possession changed hands with time running out. In the dying seconds Fermanagh held the ball and worked it back to keeper Shea Mulligan but Kevin Lovett chased him down and he kicked the ball aimlessly out the field. In the scramble for the ball, Aaron Reel was tripped on the 45-metre line and Shane Tynan finished the job, giving Cavan the narrowest of wins.

Cavan now face Leitrim on Saturday March 4 with nothing less than a win needed to have a chance of progressing to the final but they will also need Fermanagh to beat Longford in their round three clash.

Cavan: Cillian Brady, Sean Og McGearty, Evan Crowe, Ben McGahan(0-1), Aaron Reel, Ryan Brady, Kyle McCabe, Philip Smyth, Thomas Partington, Oran Rehill(0-3), Emmanuel Shehu, Barry Donnelly, Shane Tynan(0-4,3f), Lorcan Reilly(0-3,2f), Favour Shehu

Subs: James McBreen, Cormac McKeogh, Kevin Lovett, Matthew Costello, Daire Madden, Cian Keaney(0-1m)

Fermanagh: Shea Mulligan, Niall Maguire, Cathair Leonard, Conal Boyle, Micheal Flanagan, Dan McCann, Fionan O'Brien(0-4,2f), Sean Conlon(0-1), Justin McDade(0-2), Caolan Brennan, Conor O'Hanlon(0-2,1f), Malachy O'Flanagan, Pearse McDermott, Diarmuid King(0-2,1’45), Ger O'Keeffe

Subs Diarmuid Owens, Ross Bogue, Conor McGovern.