Fermanagh

[saffron sam2]

Good article but who is he quoting in the second half of it? Gallagher?

Probably himself, assuming Kieran Shannon wrote the article.

[haranguerer]

Good article but who is he quoting in the second half of it? Gallagher?

[mattockranger]

Correct and right Shannon is a sports pyschologist thanks

[liihb]

Good article, but for me tainted a bit by the fact that Gallagher is mentioned. Anyone who knows him knows what he is like, and team player is not one of them

[samwin08]

Much has been written by local journalists to isolate the dissafectd players and portray them as the villians.  Here are some clues for the disatisfaction " late nights, bars,  before matches .

[unitedireland]

The minors seem to be doing well for a change they have beaten donegal, antrim and tyrone. The championship will tell the tale but at least they are winning games. Fair play to henry and the management team putting a good effort in.

[Orangemac]

London 0-15 Fermanagh 0-9


Surely Fermanagh cannot go any lower than this. New manager needs to be got in before senior championship starts and if clubs have any gumption a new co board at the next possible opportunity.

[FermGael]

A new low and I am here at it.numb

[Orangemac]

A new low and I am here at it.numb

Fair play to you Fermgael. True diehard. On the bright side the only way is up from here.

[sammymaguire]

London were a great price today 

[Fermanaghfirst]

Manager must go. John o Neill has made excuse after excuse since taking the job. It's time people listened to the players that walked away this year. Disgrace.

[Orangemac]

Manager must go. John o Neill has made excuse after excuse since taking the job. It's time people listened to the players that walked away this year. Disgrace.

Haven't heard his excuse for this game yet but would imagine it would be along the lines of "London have a bigger population to call upon than Fermanagh".

[FermGael]

Where do you begin??
I have had an awful lot of highs and lows with Fermanagh but yesterday was the lowest point ever in Fermanagh football history.  Firstly congratulations to London.  Thoroughly deserved.  Truthfully they should have won by more.

As for the match itself the decision to play Niall Cassidy as a defender completely back fired.  Niall plays all his club football as a forward and in my memory has never played as a back.  I do not blame the young lad.  I blame the management.  They hung him out to dry.  Also bringing on Hugh Brady when he was clearly not fit was mind boggling. 
From the start the Fermanagh players were nervy, kicking ball away, making silly handling errors and running into the tackle and not getting out of it.  Once London got a few scores the nerves got worse and it was very hard to watch.  John Woods, Barry Owens, Tomas Corrigan and John O'Flanaghan tried but they were fighting a losing battle. 

I hope that this defeat will draw a line on the whole thing and O'Neill will now walk away.  I have my doubts if he will though. 
Even if O'Neill does walk away there are other problems to be sorted.  The county board seems to at war with itself.  There are many problems there as well.  That was highlighted this week by the CCC decision to play a round of starred fixtures on Friday night and then cancel them on Wednesday after an emergency meeting.  The left hand it seems does not know what the right hand is doing.

As for the players that left the panel, Fermanagh has too small a player base to lose players of this quality.  We need to see T McElroy, J Sherry, P Sherry, N Bogue, S Lyons, and R Carson back in the county colours as soon as possible.  We could also do with seeing R McCluskey, D Keenan, R Foy and D Kelly returning to the fold as well who were not available this year for one reason or another.  E Maguire and M McGrath would also be a great addition to the team if they have recovered from injury
But it must also be remembered that of the players that walked away, some are more trouble than they are worth and others on that list would be of no addition.

I have no clue what will happen now for Fermanagh football.  I suppose that the only way is up from here.  But there is an awful long way to go

[Caid]

Would pretty much echo FermGael's comments.  London the better team and deserved winners.  A solid team performance for London and a few of their Galway men look handy enough.  They could have another victory in them yet especially if they get another game at Ruislip.

The attendance level, atmosphere, and set up at Ruislip yesterday made it feel more like a club championship match than an AI qualifier.  Fermanagh duly obliged by producing a club like performance.  Though truth be told many club teams would beat us.  Normally in a situation like this the losing team comes away saying 'ah we took them for granted and thought it would be a handy win'.  No one in Fermanagh thought this would be a handy win (indeed a fair few prob had money on London at 7/2!) which deprives of this excuse.  As a result the only excuses are either (1) players not good enough (2) management not good enough.

Nomally in these scenarios the press will say 'it has become impossible for the manager to stay on'.  The worrying thing is that it is not impossible. O'Neill is stubborn. The County Board will never admit they have made a mistake. The remaining players will be happy for JON to remain as they get regular intercounty football.  Would be interesting to get Barry Owens thoughts now.

The main problem remains unaddressed. The manager picks the players. The County Board picks the manager. The Clubs pick the County Board.  The County Board needs to change. Sack the board. Have clear elections for every position. Look at the best club chairmen and put them forward for the main job. Update the strategy plan for the county. Invest in youth (both in terms of development and having a younger county board).  However, this will not happen as Fermanagh people are to laid back to seek change. But Fermanagh need a vision for the next 5-10 years. JON is not the man to either create that vision or implement it.  Why not set up a commitee headed by Peter Quinn and containing the likes of the Brewsters, the Gallaghers, McGinnity, Corrigan, Owens, McGrath, Bradley et al to say 'right how are we gonna sort this out'?

On another note, a reminder that Fermanagh football is not totally dead was provided by the chants from the Lisnaskea contingent of 'if you have an all-ireland clap your hands' whilst a mirror above the bar in ruislip that was presented by Enniskillen Gaels in 2000 was another reminder of headier days for fermanagh football

[ck]

Two very good posts above. Particularly like the point by Caid of a committee coming together with McGinnity, Brewster, Gallagher etc. That would be a more effective start than the county board appointing one of their mates!
All of the worst fears on O'Neill have come through and it is fair to say that this is an all time low for Fermanagh. Rory Gallagher for manager? Apppointed by a new county board.