Fermanagh Football & Hurling

[inisceithleann]

How do yous rate Belleek's chances of overturning Trillick on Sunday? You'd think Trillick would be too strong, but Erne Gaels have some great players in Shane Lyons and Shane O'Brien.

[FermPundit]

How do yous rate Belleek's chances of overturning Trillick on Sunday? You'd think Trillick would be too strong, but Erne Gaels have some great players in Shane Lyons and Shane O'Brien.

Yeah, you would imagine that Trillick would be too strong for Belleek but I fully expect them to give a good account of themselves. Whilst they have struggled in Division 2 this year no side hammered them. Both sets of players should know each other pretty well given that so many of the Trillick team were educated at St. Michael's. Mattie Donnelly and Niall Gormley are the danger men up front for Trillick but I believe Gormley didn't play at the weekend because of a foot injury. If he doesn't recover in time then Belleek could possibly cause an upset.

[ExiledGael]

How do yous rate Belleek's chances of overturning Trillick on Sunday? You'd think Trillick would be too strong, but Erne Gaels have some great players in Shane Lyons and Shane O'Brien.

Yeah, you would imagine that Trillick would be too strong for Belleek but I fully expect them to give a good account of themselves. Whilst they have struggled in Division 2 this year no side hammered them. Both sets of players should know each other pretty well given that so many of the Trillick team were educated at St. Michael's. Mattie Donnelly and Niall Gormley are the danger men up front for Trillick but I believe Gormley didn't play at the weekend because of a foot injury. If he doesn't recover in time then Belleek could possibly cause an upset.

Yeah Niall Gormley hasn't played now for a good few weeks and to be honest Erne Gaels need him to not play again this weekend. Hope they can do it, would be good for the county, but wouldn't bet on it. Haven't seen an awful lot of Shane O'Brien but he seems to be very well thought of around home, will he last the county trials?

[FermPundit]

How do yous rate Belleek's chances of overturning Trillick on Sunday? You'd think Trillick would be too strong, but Erne Gaels have some great players in Shane Lyons and Shane O'Brien.

Yeah, you would imagine that Trillick would be too strong for Belleek but I fully expect them to give a good account of themselves. Whilst they have struggled in Division 2 this year no side hammered them. Both sets of players should know each other pretty well given that so many of the Trillick team were educated at St. Michael's. Mattie Donnelly and Niall Gormley are the danger men up front for Trillick but I believe Gormley didn't play at the weekend because of a foot injury. If he doesn't recover in time then Belleek could possibly cause an upset.

Yeah Niall Gormley hasn't played now for a good few weeks and to be honest Erne Gaels need him to not play again this weekend. Hope they can do it, would be good for the county, but wouldn't bet on it. Haven't seen an awful lot of Shane O'Brien but he seems to be very well thought of around home, will he last the county trials?

I would think so given that Womble is away to Australia. We need cover at midfield and he would provide it. He's an excellent free taker as well. It'll be interesting to see how he performs this Sunday.

[inisceithleann]

Erne Gaels also have the fella Ciaran Smith who captained St Michael's to Macrory victory in '99. Pretty good player from what I remember.

[inisceithleann]

Good article by Colm Bradley in the Herald today. Welcoming Rory back into the Fermanagh fold and saying that he is so much more than a free taker. Will Bradley himself be making a comeback next season?

[ExiledGael]

Read that this morning, hard to disagree with much of it. Given that I'd still be surprised to see Gallagher about come summer.

[inisceithleann]

Read that this morning, hard to disagree with much of it. Given that I'd still be surprised to see Gallagher about come summer.

Have to disagree with you there. I'd say O'Rourke was dying for Gallagher to come back (may even have asked him to the trials). Who else could play Centre Half Forward, a real problem position for us. Tom Brewster or O'Reilly? In any case we need more experience in the forward line. Look how Mattie Keenan struggled when he started in the Championship.

[ExiledGael]

Well here's hoping. I've got my hopes up about him once too often though.
Notice the Enniskillen Town notes wishing Mattie Keenan all the best after recent surgery on a hip problem, what's the story here?
WIll he be fit again for January? Would like to see him make an impact after his disastrous 15 minutes in the replayed final, couldn't have been easy to take.

[FermPundit]

Read that this morning, hard to disagree with much of it. Given that I'd still be surprised to see Gallagher about come summer.

Have to disagree with you there. I'd say O'Rourke was dying for Gallagher to come back (may even have asked him to the trials). Who else could play Centre Half Forward, a real problem position for us. Tom Brewster or O'Reilly? In any case we need more experience in the forward line. Look how Mattie Keenan struggled when he started in the Championship.

If Rory is to play in the team then full foward is the only postion for him. CHF is a problem area for us. Maybe Ciaran O'Reilly can fill the void when he recovers from his knee injury. I read in the Herald today that Mattie Keenan has recently undergone surgery. I think he had a groin problem last year.

[FermPundit]

For any other Fermanagh folk who haven't seen the article on Rory Gallagher, here it is.

Tackling Matters

By Colm Bradley


As he tiptoes into his 30s he has probably outgrown the prodigal son tag but the return of Rory Gallagher to the Fermanagh fold is nevertheless something that we should all be delighted with.

Whatever your opinion is of Gallagher - and he tends to provoke polar opposites - there has been no Fermanagh footballer of the past ten years who sets tongues wagging quite like the Belleek native.

Firstly, let me say that I think it is a great move by Malachy O'Rourke to take another look at the Gallagher. O'Rourke has absolutely nothing to lose by having a look at the forward. We all know what he can do when on top form and Malachy would have been wrong to shut the door on him. In a county whose resources are as scant as ours it would be an exercise of extreme folly to discard anyone who has proven their mettle in the inter county arena in the past. Rory has done that and if he can reproduce the form of old then he will be of huge benefit to the Fermanagh squad.

Secondly, this is a great move for Gallagher himself. He opted out of Inter County action after the 2002 season and as a result missed both the 2003 run to the quarter finals and also the 2004 run to the semi final. His comeback for Fermanagh in 2005 did not go well for a variety of reasons while his sortie with Cavan in 2007 was not the success he would have wished for.

He has unfinished business if you like, and it would have been terribly sad had this terrific Fermanagh footballer played his last minutes of Inter County football in the blue of Cavan rather than the green of Fermanagh. By putting himself forward for a trial Gallagher has given himself the chance to once again play for his own county and it is the least the man deserves after the service he has given Fermanagh down through the years.

In many ways you have to feel for Gallagher, because, he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't in the eyes of many. He has become something of a paradoxical figure for Fermanagh fans over the last decade or so. If you listen to terrace talk among supporters his absence has been both the reason for Fermanagh's success, and also our failures in the past five years.

When things are going well people tend to forget all about Gallagher, except possibly to say that the team is better off without him. On the other hand when things go wrong, especially in front of the posts, supporters can be heard bemoaning the fact that Gallagher is not part of the set up. Both assertions are grossly unfair by the way. The success or failure of a team does not rest on the shoulders of one man.

But with the Ulster final loss and the defeat to Kildare still fresh in people's minds the general consensus doing the rounds at present is that Gallagher's presence in either game would have guaranteed victory. In bars, workplaces and that infinite bastion of misinformation, cyber space, the opinion that; 'If Gallagher was playing last year we would have won Ulster,' has almost cemented itself as fact. Every time I hear or read this train of thought I have to bite my tongue.

Because, when people argue this point they do not point to his passing ability, or coolness under pressure or even his ability to score goals as reasons why he would have been an asset last year. No, instead they claim that his only use would have been to kick the free kicks. A sort of designated free taker who needed to do nothing else!

A good friend of mine constantly argues that you can 'carry a free taker.' Well you can't, not at inter county level. Anybody who thinks you can should tell me of a successful team of the last decade who have carried a free take. Please, go ahead, try. Peter McGinnity, even at his age (sorry Peter) would have kicked most of the frees Fermanagh missed last year so why not 'carry' him as a free taker! The logic used by some is definitely of the nonsensical nature.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Fermanagh forwards, although wrongly maligned by the end of the season, were a huge part of the success of the team. The forwards worked to a strict game plan and their workrate was a huge factor in the team getting so far. Dropping back, working selflessly and a complete unity and trust in one another were traits which marked out the forwards last year. These traits may not be as easily recognisable to the naked eye as a spectacular point or searing solo run but without them Fermanagh would not have reached an Ulster final last year. A free taker lined out simply to kick frees would not have seen Fermanagh past Monaghan in Brewster Park let alone win an Ulster Championship.

But what should be borne in mind every time somebody wheels out the, 'Gallagher is only there for free kicks' line, is that they are in fact doing a great disservice to the man. If Rory Gallagher plays to his potential then he will be on the starting 15 regardless of his free taking abilities. In short if Rory Gallagher is on song there will be no need to carry him; he will, in fact, become an integral part of the team.

So please desist from the thinking that an Anglo Celt is now a certainty because we may have an ace free taker in our pack. Believe me when I say that Malachy O'Rourke will carry no-one.

So if Gallagher earns a starting spot against Down it will be because of what he adds to the team from play, not from frees, and if he is there for his contribution from play then that means we have one of the best forwards in Ulster in our ranks, regardless of whether he ever hits a free kick.

And if this happens folks, then, we can get really excited!

[FermGael]

After looking at some of the debate about McRory cup football and its merits on the Antrim thread,
I was wondering what anybodies thoughts are on other school's Gaelic contibutions to fermanagh football.
It seems to me that we have very little sucess outside the McRory bracket with our school's and vocational college.
Any thoughts???

[ExiledGael]

Some of the other schools have produced a player or two but the crucial stage as in all counties comes at the 17/18/19 age group where we seem to have lost a lot of potential. Most of us probably remember the St Comghall's Lisnaskea team that won a vocational schools All-Ireland. Not one hundred percent on this but those players should be 28/29 now and I don't think one of them are involved in the current Fermanagh set-up, certainly none I know of.
Now an awful lot of that is to do with social matters and employment/emigration from the few I'd know, but Tyrone have a similar outlook on those issues and I could never imagine that happening there.
Anyone remember or have a link to that team?

[keeping an eye on things]

Not 100% sure on this Exiled Gael but thought Mark Little was part of that St.Col's team that won that year.  Also Fermanagh Tech won the All-Ireland that year, not sure if any current Fermanagh seniors were on that team

[118cmal]

Not 100% sure on this Exiled Gael but thought Mark Little was part of that St.Col's team that won that year.  Also Fermanagh Tech won the All-Ireland that year, not sure if any current Fermanagh seniors were on that team

Don't know about Fermanagh, but I believe Colm McCullagh (Dromore/Tyrone) was part of that team IIRC.

Steven Maguire was also on that team I believe.  Was Rory Gallagher on it too?