DERRY V FERMANAGH Healy Park Sat 21st June Throw in: 6pm

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Anyone else suffering from severe anticlimax syndrome shock watching the soccer after that game?

Actually theres a fellow called (sounds like) "jerk off" playing so no

Fair enough Frank, to each his own, I suppose 

[The Real Laoislad]

Anyone else suffering from severe anticlimax syndrome shock watching the soccer after that game?

Actually theres a fellow called (sounds like) "jerk off" playing so no

Fair enough Frank, to each his own, I suppose 

There is a fella called "arseshaving" (Arshavn) playing too

[mackers]

Had a feeling that this was on the cards as I posted earlier, Derry have a few defenders that are over-hyped, McCloy being one of them. Caught badly for the goal, Fermanagh are a rotten team to play against and IF we manage to beat Down, Armagh will definitely not be taking Fermanagh lightly.
Paddy Heaney who is normally a balanced writer lost the run of himself this year and is sitting with egg on his face tonight.

[jodyb]

i bought a ticket for the game last night but decided not to go as i thought Derry would breeze it--(im a neutral by the way) and couldnt stand seeing Bradley and co winning
feel like a d*ck now for not going but happy for Fermanagh

Shane McCabe was very good and rarely wasted a ball, Owens looks like a real option to come on in full -forward from now on--what a super sub! The last 2 Allstar full -backs squared up and Owens won hands down--what a first touch of the year!

Would be great if Fermanagh could kick on and win it now, although i fancy Armagh

A Fermanagh/Down final would be great for a change.

What a Championship we have here in Ulster as Jarlath said on the BBC, the rest of the Country must look on in envy

Doesn't sound much like a neutral to me

Anyway, what can I say? Just home. Gutted!! Derry yet again flatter to decieve. Was in the worst seat in the house, so I'm not gonna say much about the game (most of the 2nd half took place beyond my line of vision and i left with 10 mins to go). I'm gonna put the glasses on and put myself through the torture of watching the video now, to try and figure out just how bad Derry were.
But words like gutless and aimless are what i'm thinking at the minute.
Not to take away from Fermanagh, they played like they wanted it more and fair play to them. I hope they go on and win the Anglo celt.

[magickingdom]

fair play to fermanagh, great to see them win but wont be worth a thing unless they win the ulster final. hopefully they will....

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

There is a fella called "arseshaving" (Arshavin) playing too

And what a player he is, in fairness.

[Pangurban]

Well done Fermanagh, great win, see you in the final, regrettably though i would like to see you win an Ulster, this is our year

[Maguire01]

its nearly 3 years as I said the first time.

I know! I was just making the point that reaching the semi-final is something that can only be done once a year, therefore it hadn't happened in the last 2 years, and will only be 3 years if it doesn't happen this year.  I was just making the (albeit pedantic!) point that there's no 'nearly'!

[THEREALGRASSROOTS]

  Ten years.  We thought the wait was over after 10 years.  If Conleith Gilligan scores the penalty, it probably is over.  But that's far from pinning the blame on Gilligan.  Fermanagh were excellent, they cannot be faulted.  They were superbly well drilled, they won 90% of the ball at midfield.  Their half-forwards and even their inside forwards worked so incredibly hard to get back when they lost the ball.

Derry didn't do enough with the wind in the first half to win it.  The wind was savage but Fermanagh's gameplan worked to perfection.  Someone said on here 1-10 to 0-05 in the last three quarters was fair, I'd agree completely.  Derry never got out of their own half for the first 20 minutes of the second half.  They never got out of second gear.  While some will compare it to Monaghan last year, it's more like the Donegal defeat at Clones in '05 for me.  Wet, miserable old evening, off the back of a brilliant opening round win and completely outplayed.

O'Rourke had Fermanagh so well drilled they made Derry look like headless chickens.  There was no gameplan.  I felt sorry for Mark Lynch.  He in particular was being forced to drop deep and when he got possession (which was often enough), he was being left with 70 yards of space and five green shirts before he could see either of the Bradleys - what was he supposed to do?

Diver and Conway will be blamed no doubt, but how many clean catches did Fermanagh take?  Derry's half-backs were sleeping.  Fermanagh's half-forwards just stood in front of them on kickouts and waited for the ball to be broken down, grabbing 90% of them.

Up front, Derry only ever looked threatening when Eoin Bradley got the ball.  Paddy never figured, because the possession coming his way was snapped up long before it ever got there.  Eoin's goal was superb, great pace and strength.  He should have been brought out to half-forward for the second half, because Derry needed someone to run with the ball and take the pressure off.  Paul Murphy never got a kick again, can't understand why his club form isn't being reproduced.

The referee was abysmal but he certainly didn't beat Derry.  All said, Fermanagh were thoroughly deserving winners.  I genuinely hope they go on and win Ulster now because the way their fans celebrated after the match showed how much it means to them.  They made most of the atmospher and swamped the players at the final whistle.

Suppose our ten years looks short in comparison 

[jodyb]

Still haven't watched the game on video RGR, but that sounds about right to me. Disagree with the point about Lynch. there were at least 3 occasions when he could and should have offloaded to ether of the Bradleys and he didn't. But Derry looked like they hadn't their homework done and were completely outplayed.

[Maguire01]

The referee was abysmal but he certainly didn't beat Derry. 

He was poor indeed. If anything, i'd say Fermanagh suffered a bit more because of him - when he slowed things up when he gave them frees, effectively killing their advantage. The penalty decision was a borderline one (i thought it was a fair shoulder - hard to tell) and Eoin Bradley also won a few very handy frees when i think both players were pulling at each other.
Overall however, the amount of yellow cards was ridiculous in a game where there were very few bad tackles.  Sherry was extremely unlucky to get sent off and McBarron's yellow was for nothing.

[Maguire01]

But Derry looked like they hadn't their homework done and were completely outplayed.

So are they just not good enough? Or did they actually underestimate Fermanagh as they did with Monaghan last year?  It's funny actually that both Monaghan and now Fermanagh beat Derry in the Ulster semi-final, but by 2 points in each case when the winners dominated the vast majority of the game in both cases.

[spiritof91and94]

Had a feeling that this was on the cards as I posted earlier, Derry have a few defenders that are over-hyped, McCloy being one of them. Caught badly for the goal, Fermanagh are a rotten team to play against and IF we manage to beat Down, Armagh will definitely not be taking Fermanagh lightly.
Paddy Heaney who is normally a balanced writer lost the run of himself this year and is sitting with egg on his face tonight.

You have to give it to heaney he over rated this derry outfit big time - the NFL is really not important to counties anymore and is in danger of becoming another McKenna Cup type competition - Fermanagh played with great hunger today and O'Rourke seems to be a very astute manager indeed.

[SLIGONIAN]

Congrats to Fermanagh, best of luck in the final.

[Maguire01]

Had a feeling that this was on the cards as I posted earlier, Derry have a few defenders that are over-hyped, McCloy being one of them. Caught badly for the goal, Fermanagh are a rotten team to play against and IF we manage to beat Down, Armagh will definitely not be taking Fermanagh lightly.
Paddy Heaney who is normally a balanced writer lost the run of himself this year and is sitting with egg on his face tonight.

You have to give it to heaney he over rated this derry outfit big time - the NFL is really not important to counties anymore and is in danger of becoming another McKenna Cup type competition - Fermanagh played with great hunger today and O'Rourke seems to be a very astute manager indeed.

Heaney wasn't on his own, to be fair.  And there was a lot of talk about Fermanagh's great run in the league.
I'm looking forward to seeing Brolly and Tohill on TV tomorrow.