An Iarmhí v Fear Manach

FermGael · July 25, 2015, 08:19:27 PM

Massive second half especially when you consider we lost 2 of our best defenders in the first half.
Also eoin going off injured could have been a blow but the bench again proved it's worth.
Delighted to be playing football in August and bring on the dubs.
Eamonn had a wasted journey today.
We will see him in the final.

tonto1888 · July 25, 2015, 09:11:06 PM

Do Fermanagh play Dublin next then?

bcarrier · July 25, 2015, 09:13:38 PM

Dubs next for Fermanagh.

trileacman · July 25, 2015, 09:38:52 PM

f**king shocking luck to get this far in the championship and have to face the Dubs at home. That'll be a turkey shoot and these Fermanagh players deserve a QF in which they could compete be it Kerry or Mayo. They would still be marked underdogs for those fixtures but there would always be a small "if" in the minds of most. Playing Dublin is a guaranteed tanking.

Syferus · July 25, 2015, 09:52:08 PM

Quote from: trileacman on July 25, 2015, 09:38:52 PM
f**king shocking luck to get this far in the championship and have to face the Dubs at home. That'll be a turkey shoot and these Fermanagh players deserve a QF in which they could compete be it Kerry or Mayo. They would still be marked underdogs for those fixtures but there would always be a small "if" in the minds of most. Playing Dublin is a guaranteed tanking.

Feck off. Getting to a QF is getting to a QF. There's no such thing as deserving an easier draw.

omaghjoe · July 26, 2015, 03:40:45 AM

Quote from: Syferus on July 25, 2015, 09:52:08 PM
Quote from: trileacman on July 25, 2015, 09:38:52 PM
f**king shocking luck to get this far in the championship and have to face the Dubs at home. That'll be a turkey shoot and these Fermanagh players deserve a QF in which they could compete be it Kerry or Mayo. They would still be marked underdogs for those fixtures but there would always be a small "if" in the minds of most. Playing Dublin is a guaranteed tanking.

Feck off. Getting to a QF is getting to a QF. There's no such thing as deserving an easier draw.

Dont worry Syferus yous will get there someday. Seriously tho does this mean Fermanagh are ahead of yis in the QF appearances? Or where yis also in one one way back in the early 00s?

omaghjoe · July 26, 2015, 03:46:27 AM

Also havent seen the match yet but congrats Fermanagh amazing achievement with a tiny population. And without doubt my fav neighbouring county

As far as Dublin goes well you could have got handier draws, but at the end of the day... its 15 v 15 and your fighting spirit might rattle their dodgy temperament.

Farrandeelin · July 26, 2015, 08:00:40 AM

I thought Fermanagh were lucky to be level at halftime. Westmeath dominated the middle winning most of the breaking ball. I thought Fermanagh would struggle in the 2nd half when they got two black cards late in the 1st half. But fair dues, they controlled the 2nd half. Their heads never dropped and it was Fermanagh winning all the ball in the middle. Westmeath just ran out of ideas and Fermanagh capitalised on that. Well done.

Dublin may be a bridge too far for them, but in Pete McGrath, they have a manager who will bring all his knowledge with him to try and derail them. He really is getting the most out of the team. This despite the fact Quigley was quite poor yesterday (imo).

Maguire01 · July 26, 2015, 09:59:21 AM

Quote from: trileacman on July 25, 2015, 09:38:52 PM
f**king shocking luck to get this far in the championship and have to face the Dubs at home. That'll be a turkey shoot and these Fermanagh players deserve a QF in which they could compete be it Kerry or Mayo. They would still be marked underdogs for those fixtures but there would always be a small "if" in the minds of most. Playing Dublin is a guaranteed tanking.

Well you could argue that some lucky draws helped them to a QF in the first place: winning against Antrim (twice), Roscommon and Westmeath, with 3 of the games at home... not exactly the most difficult route to the last 8. The luck of the draw works both ways.

manfromdelmonte · July 26, 2015, 10:35:41 AM

Westmeath were shocking yesterday, once they went 5-2 up.
Fell apart

FermGael · July 26, 2015, 11:19:45 PM

After watching the game back today it was very clear that we were very nervous and didn't really settle until the final 20 minutes.
The most pleasing thing from a Fermanagh point of view was that we lost 3 of our leaders today in McCluskey, O'Brien and Donnelly. When Eoin went of we were a point up but fair play to the bench and some of the younger players on the team, they just upped their game and blew Westmeath away on the final 20.
Ruairi and especially Tomas Corrigan were excellent along with James McMahon and Niall Cassidy. No idea how Ryan Jones got MOM but sure who cares.

An All Ireland quarter final next weekend against the Dubs and sure you never know.

Emmett · July 27, 2015, 08:57:51 AM

I watched the game back myself last night also. We were definitely nervous for the first 30 minutes and it appeared that the expectation to win from within the county and also from being favourites was weighing on the players. In past Fermanagh teams that would have been enough to have us beat. However, this team seem to be made of different stuff and it is in no small part to Pete McGrath. The man is a legend and we are very lucky to have him. Any county in Ireland would be in my opinion.

Tomas Corrigan has been our main man in the last 2 matches, he has really stepped up and grown into a quality player. Ok granted Westmeath appeared to roll over and concede defeat as soon as we got our noses in front but it was a good win nonetheless. What pleased me the most was how we lost 3 of our main players (Marty O'Brien, Ryan McCluskey and Eoin Donnolly) early on in the match but the subs proved that there is some strength in depth there.

Obviously Fermanagh have it all to do and there has probably never been such a David v Goliath contest at this stage of the Championship but we will give it a real good rattle I feel and will not lie down which is what seems to happen in Leinster. No matter what happens on Sunday this has been a great experience for such a young squad and we can only get better as a result of it.

Fear Manach Abú!

Jinxy · July 27, 2015, 09:03:59 AM

Is Pete McGrath the last of the great old school managers who is still involved at inter-county level?

yellowcard · July 27, 2015, 09:16:13 AM

Good result for Fermanagh even if Westmeath were awful. If Fermanagh had converted their chances they could have won by 20 points, Quigley must have had about 7 or 8 wides by himself. That said I think Dublin will be far too powerful for Fermanagh in the QF and I'd expect them to win by 15-20 points given thier firepower.

Croí na hÉireann · July 27, 2015, 10:41:38 AM

Disappointing end to a rollercoaster season, we simply ran out of gas in the end. The players were out on their feet in the second half and they had all the trademarks of a team that was over trained. Injuries didn't help either and a third of our starting team were up on blocks by the end of it.

Fair play to Fermanagh though, their fans travelled in huge numbers and there were lovely scenes for them at the end. They were quick to adapt when the high ball into Quigley wasn't working and we failed to follow suit. Depressing listening to the Sunday Game "analysis" from lads who were obviously just going on the footage.

Would have been nice to get back to Croker and a quarter final but in the long run it's probably best that we ended our involvement on Saturday. Getting an unmerciful hiding from Kerry with half our players injured and the other half out on their feet would have undone the good championship run. As it is we have solid foundations put down for next year, just a pity we're playing in Div 3.

An Iarmhí Abú.