Fermanagh v Antrim - the battle for the Wooden spoon

[FermGael]

Fermanagh team named

Snow
Jones, Cassidy, O'Brien,
D. McCusker, McCluskey, McMahon,
R Jones, O'Callaghan,
P. McCusker, Flaherty, Mulrone,
T. Corrigan, Quigley, R. Corrigan

A Few surprises in that lineout.
Tiernan Daly has played full back for the whole league and does not start. Snow gets the nod in goals over Tracey.
Ulster Championship debuts for James McMahon and Ruairi Corrigan.
Eoin Donnelly will play no part on Sunday as he is not listed on the bench

[twohands!!!]

Fermanagh team named

Snow
Jones, Cassidy, O'Brien,
D. McCusker, McCluskey, McMahon,
R Jones, O'Callaghan,
P. McCusker, Flaherty, Mulrone,
T. Corrigan, Quigley, R. Corrigan

A Few surprises in that lineout.
Tiernan Daly has played full back for the whole league and does not start. Snow gets the nod in goals over Tracey.
Ulster Championship debuts for James McMahon and Ruairi Corrigan.
Eoin Donnelly will play no part on Sunday as he is not listed on the bench

Donnelly is carrying an injury I heard.

With the disarray Antrim are in Fermanagh should have a comfy enough win - Monaghan in the semi though [insert emoji of choice]

[FermGael]

Peter has his say.


Peter Canavan: The politics forced me out of Fermanagh - Donegal got more access to Brewster Park than we did in two years

I must say I am looking forward to tomorrow's Ulster Championship match, and I make no apologies for cheering on this group of Fermanagh players against Antrim.

There is an attachment and a bond with the group which came with my two years there as manager. But ultimately, the politics behind the scenes didn't wash with me at all.

I was asked to take over the county when they were in turmoil and disarray. Pat Spillane had them ranked as 29th out of the counties in his newspaper column after they lost to London in the 2011 qualifiers.

I spoke to Kieran Donnelly, my trainer with Errigal Ciaran and himself a former Fermanagh player. He had belief in them, that things were at a low ebb, but it could be turned around.

There were other former county players who informed me that the county and players were split after a player walkout the previous year. And I was assured that I would never get the county board together again.

So, they were right, at least regarding the county board. I was never able to sort that mess out.

From a players' point of view, we had a serious meeting once we compiled a panel after a series of trials.

A lot of opinions were aired in the Manor House Hotel one Saturday afternoon in early January 2012.

We could not approach men to come back and then brush it under the table. Some had waited a long time to get stuff off their chest, but they wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for their love for Fermanagh.

Whether people felt they were right or wrong, there was only one way of getting it out of their system and that was by showing their commitment on the pitch.

They sorted it out, got on with things and trained as hard as any group of players I have been involved with. That's why I respect them so much.

We had some good nights out with them on weekends away, and the way that they dealt with the tragic death of their fellow player Brian Óg Maguire in an accident  in September 2012 was a perfect example of humility and dignity.

The characters – Barry Mulrone, Daniel 'Cecil' Kille, Shane McCabe – I still hear from them and get bad manners yet from some!

Counties with smaller playing populations – and Fermanagh, with only 20 clubs, fall into this bracket – will always struggle with one or two players that they would dearly love to be on board, but prove 'difficult.'

Cross

We had that with Seamus Quigley. The first three or four months we were there, he was the first man on the pitch every night and we never had a cross word with him. He won the Ulster GAA Writer's Player of the Month in January for his performances in the McKenna Cup.

Whether it was the pressure of knowing that he was the main man coming up to the summer, whether he felt he couldn't handle it, I don't know. But for whatever reason, he resorted to doing what he had done under other managers – he started missing training and we would have reports back of Seamie partying, and he was absent from a training session the week of our first Championship match against Down. 

The great pity is that his kicking ability was as good as anyone in Ulster, without a doubt. If you saw Michael Murphy kicking the late free for Donegal against Tyrone a couple of weeks back, Seamie Quigley would do that nine times out of ten. He has done it and is still doing it for his club Roslea.

Eventually, we had to move on without him. 

Then, there was the difficulty in dealing with the divisions in the county board, despite some officers doing their very best for us.

I noticed Rory Gallagher's recent comments when he said that he had to be guaranteed certain structures had to be in place in Donegal before he took over, in order for him to concentrate on the players and preparing them.

This is an area that many more county managers are going to look about nailing down, and something the likes of Eamonn Fitzmaurice does not have to contend with.

In Fermanagh, we had huge difficulty with certain aspects of the county board. 

Take something like training on Brewster Park in the lead-up to Championship matches, for example. We arrived there once to find the changing rooms locked. On other occasions we were told we could only train for a short time, or to pack up our cones and get going.

Donegal came to the Lough Erne Resort last year before the All-Ireland final. They actually got more access to that pitch that week than we did in the two years we were managing the county!

Various untruths that were put out there, leading to club delegates questioning everything.

One night, and this comment came back to me, it was asked why this team were training like a Division 1 team, when they were going to end up playing in Division 4?

That was being driven by a few individuals that had nothing to do with getting this management together.

The players embarked on a fundraising project weekend in late November 2012, with a boxing exhibition, bingo and a big Nathan Carter concert.

It was to pay for a training weekend we felt was necessary. They put in an astonishing amount of work, having to balance it with a tough pre-season.

Yet there was negative vibes about that, disputes over money. It was a non-stop knocking at the team and even the players.

So it gets to the stage where you are asking yourself, 'what am I doing here, doing my best for a county, when others don't want you there?'

Cagey

Anyway! Back to this weekend, and it will be two cagey teams in Brewster Park.

A lot of the time, your tactical approach is shaped by the players at your disposal.

You can't go man for man. Fermanagh are not in a position to go hell for leather; their emphasis is on defence and hitting teams on the counter.

In the meantime, they are fortunate that they have someone like Pete McGrath, who is football to the core and appreciates what is required.

I have no doubt that the players will give him the response he deserves tomorrow, with Fermanagh winning with something to spare.

[Milltown Row2]

Bitter or just annoyed?? Whose CB is worse ??

[FermGael]

I would say a combination of the two Milltown.
Fermanagh county board are notorious for being dinosaurs.
Same people rotating the top jobs for the last 25 years.
The quote about a county board official saying hey were a division 4 team would not have been far of the mark.  Would sum them up.

But the story's about his expenses also did not help.  That was a a major issue for some.

You also look at the Fermanagh team that McGrath has playing today.
I would say we have at 7 least players started who wouldn't have made Canavans first 15 and a few who were not even on the panel.
Canavan kept faith with the older players who had been great servants to Fermanagh but at the expense of some good young players who are now showing what they are capable off.

As for which county board is worse that's easy. Antrims.
As someone who works in a secondary school in West Belfast that's an easy call.
Fermanagh county board are not the greatest but at least they try a bit.

[Milltown Row2]

I would say a combination of the two Milltown.
Fermanagh county board are notorious for being dinosaurs.
Same people rotating the top jobs for the last 25 years.
The quote about a county board official saying hey were a division 4 team would not have been far of the mark.  Would sum them up.

But the story's about his expenses also did not help.  That was a a major issue for some.

You also look at the Fermanagh team that McGrath has playing today.
I would say we have at 7 least players started who wouldn't have made Canavans first 15 and a few who were not even on the panel.
Canavan kept faith with the older players who had been great servants to Fermanagh but at the expense of some good young players who are now showing what they are capable off.

As for which county board is worse that's easy. Antrims.
As someone who works in a secondary school in West Belfast that's an easy call.
Fermanagh county board are not the greatest but at least they try a bit.

There needs to be a joined up approach CB need models to work from that are successful in terms of working with managers and development set ups...amd providing there are enough people willing changing county chairmen every 4 years wouldn't be a bad thing either

[Farrandeelin]

Who's the ref today?

[James Gatz]

Anyone have a link for the game?
Can't make it to Brewster unfortunately. I know BBC are showing it later but would love to watch it live.
Any help greatly appreciated!

[5 Sams]

Pleasantly surprised with the BBC NI coverage of the Fermanagh Antrim game. Is that Thomas Kane commentating? Thought he did well. Clark knows his stuff.

[Pub Bore]

I was in Enniskiilen for the weekend.  Went to this match.   Absolutely atrocious stuff from both teams.  Very poor side beats worse side.

[Milltown Row2]

Red card, no complaints think Fermanagh would have won in the end but would have been lot closer... Too many mistakes and no real pace... The Antrim lads played well considering being down a man.. Fermanagh would need to be playing seriously well to put a dent against Monaghan... Good luck yo them

[Pub Bore]

Red card, no complaints think Fermanagh would have won in the end but would have been lot closer... Too many mistakes and no real pace... The Antrim lads played well considering being down a man.. Fermanagh would need to be playing seriously well to put a dent against Monaghan... Good luck yo them

To use a golfing analogy, tee to green Antrim did OK, but once they got inside the Fermanagh 45 they seemed clueless?

[Farrandeelin]

I was in Enniskiilen for the weekend.  Went to this match.   Absolutely atrocious stuff from both teams.  Very poor side beats worse side.

Would agree with this. Also as MR2 said,there can be no complaints from Antrim re the sending off.

[Jinxy]

How did Maggie Farrelly get on reffing the minor game?

[FermGael]

Strange game. Felt like a challenge match for large parts of the first half.  Their was no real bite in the game and both teams didn't really seem that interested .
Red card was deserved.
Fermanagh seemed happy enough to just get the win and never really put Antrim away until the last 10 minutes when Antrim were out on their feet.

Anyways first ulster championship win in 5 years. Massive improvement needed for monaghan but I think we should be better when in the underdog role.
Defence was solid today. Midfield did well and forwards played well considering quigley was well marshalled.