Fermanagh Football & Hurling

[haranguerer]

Any word of the expected team for sat night? Someone has put odds on the div 3 thread - 6/4. Going on recent performances probably not generous enough, but if Mal has Marty and one or two others back, and puts on some of those lads hes thus far kept on the bench, then that could look very generous indeed.

[ExiledGael]

Malachy was quoted in the papers yesterday saying McGrath definitely would not play this weekend. There's a report in the Herald this week from a challenge game against Leitrim last weekend with a few interesting names, they played 40 minutes a half too. Won 2-15 to 2-13, not good sign for the defence against a poor Division 4 side.
Stephen Jackson; Shane Goan, Niall McGovern, Niall Bogue; Tommy McElroy, Daniel Ward, John Woods; James Sherry, Kevin Cosgrove; Ciaran Flaherty, Matty Keenan, Ryan Jones; Paul Ward, Ryan Carson, James Connolly.
James Connolly and Ryan Keenen (sub) got the goals, Niall Cunningham also scoring when he came on. Chris Breen is injured and James McGrath has withdrawn from the panel so Jackson will be in goals in Casement.
Big game after the robbery over Roscommon.
To be honest I'd be shocked if we won up there but the performance should tell a lot after the break the last few weeks.

[unitedireland]

I saw some of the under 21 challenge game between fermanagh and antrim in Belfast last night they have a good team. Forward line is very good. Jones scored two lovely points from play in the first 5 Min's and Keenan was spraying ball around the park. I think it was a draw in the end

[FermPundit]

Where do you start after a performance like that? 

Before I get into a complete state of depression I'll try and list some positives. I thought Niall Bogue, Mulrone and Tommy McElroy had good games. Ciaran McElroy looked decent when he came on in the second half. Carson was winning some good ball at full foward. The sending off changed the game. It was a woeful decision by a very poor referee. Blooby is going to be a massive loss over the next few weeks. Hopefully Daryl Keenan's injury isn't as bad as it looked. Fermanagh players are dropping like flies with injuries this season 

In truth though quite a number of the Fermanagh players who played tonight are simply not up to county standard. However, this is not a criticism of them. They are decent club players who have been asked to do a job given the number of regulars we are missing. Hopefully Marty McGrath will be fit the next day, which will make midfield a lot stronger with James Sherry in good form at the moment. What's the story with Eamon Maguire, has he made himself available yet? We'll also have Rory and Ronan Gallagher back soon after St. Patrick's day.

Would there be any harm in trying to get McDermott out of retirement? We are badly missing experienced players. Even McBarron has been a loss this year. I'm not sure what the situation is with Clucker, but I hope we get to see him in a green jersey at some stage this season.

Only for the robbery against Roscommon we would be odds on for relegation, but the 2 points we have means we have a fighting chance of staying up. To think some people had us as favourites for promotion back in January! Falling down to Division 4 is simply unthinkable. Hopefully Malachy can keep the players heads up because we have a fight on our hands to stay in this division.

[Mid Down Gael]

Where do you start after a performance like that? 

Before I get into a complete state of depression I'll try and list some positives. I thought Niall Bogue, Mulrone and Tommy McElroy had good games. Ciaran McElroy looked decent when he came on in the second half. Carson was winning some good ball at full foward. The sending off changed the game. It was a woeful decision by a very poor referee. Blooby is going to be a massive loss over the next few weeks. Hopefully Daryl Keenan's injury isn't as bad as it looked. Fermanagh players are dropping like flies with injuries this season 

In truth though quite a number of the Fermanagh players who played tonight are simply not up to county standard. However, this is not a criticism of them. They are decent club players who have been asked to do a job given the number of regulars we are missing. Hopefully Marty McGrath will be fit the next day, which will make midfield a lot stronger with James Sherry in good form at the moment. What's the story with Eamon Maguire, has he made himself available yet? We'll also have Rory and Ronan Gallagher back soon after St. Patrick's day.

Would there be any harm in trying to get McDermott out of retirement? We are badly missing experienced players. Even McBarron has been a loss this year. I'm not sure what the situation is with Clucker, but I hope we get to see him in a green jersey at some stage this season.

Only for the robbery against Roscommon we would be odds on for relegation, but the 2 points we have means we have a fighting chance of staying up. To think some people had us as favourites for promotion back in January! Falling down to Division 4 is simply unthinkable. Hopefully Malachy can keep the players heads up because we have a fight on our hands to stay in this division.

You got that right about the referee. Con Reynolds is from my own county and i pity any county playing with him in charge.

[Fermanaghandsam]

Where do you start after that. Firstly it was actually a better performance than against Roscommon but thats not hard I suppose. I don't blame the players or manager, the players are trying hard but some of them are just not good enough. We are a small county and we are just missing too many. With only 3 players from last year starting we can't expect too much, even the biggest counties would struggle with that turnover of players. I do however believe if we get Gallagher/Breen back in goal, clucker in defence, Marty into midfield and Eamon and Rory up front we will be a complely different outfit and back competing against anyone.

PS That was the worst refereeing performance I have ever witnessed. Piles of yellow cards and a sending off and there wasn't one bad tackle in the whole game!!!

[haranguerer]

You must have missed the St Galls club semi final...He was atrocious though. How come the standard of refs is so poor? More needs to be done to encourage retired players to take up a whistle. So much of gaelic refereeing is subjective, and past players will have much better judgement than those who took up the whixtle because they couldnt play...

[ExiledGael]

How worried should we be right now?
I know it's said time and time again that we're missing half our first team at least but in the mdeium term at least there's no prospect of Mark Murphy, Mark Little, Barry Owens, Shane McCabe and Ryan McCluskey coming back let alone the others. We are now in serious danger of relegation and this Sunday's game against Louth is a must win in my opinion. Division Four would be a complete disaster - London, Kilkenny, Waterford, Carlow, Clare, Wicklow, Leitrim, all woeful and mostly nightmare trips.
Not one of our staring forwards or midfielders scored from play on Saturday and by all accounts it was a better display than against Roscommon. It doesn't say much for our season so far.
The IN today mentioned a S Ryan coming off the bench? Is that a f**k up and supposed to be Shane Lyons?
If Blobby is now suspended for a month we will really struggle. From what I've seen of the GAA and CCCC this year I have lost all faith in the disciplinary system and referees anyway so any appeal will likely be a waste of time. Daryl Keenan has a broken hand according to papers.
We certainly need Marty McGrath and Eamon Maguire back asap and forget about the experimenting at full-back IMO. Leave Lyons in there and steady the ship with a little experience at least.

[FermGael]

There is  no way that Marty McGrath will be match fit and if we learned anything from last year, he should not be back until he is fully fit. 
I see from todays Irish news that Fermanagh are going to the CCC over Carson's sending off.
Could also do with getting Peter Sherry fit as well.   He is missed
James Sherry also went off injured.  If he does not make it for Sunday, we are in a mountain of trouble at midfield.
Fermanagh are a team in change and i honestly believe if we can stay in division 3 with this team, we will have done well.
Our remaining 2 home fixtures are huge and if we do not win both of them we will get relegated.
But the same problems remain and they were highlighted on Saturday.
We had one player who scored from play and that was our WHB Tommy McElroy.
Our forwards(with the exception of Blobby) are to small and light. 
The other forwards who could do a job are with St Gall's,  are unavailable for various reasons or need a good kick up the hole.
Opposing maangers have worked our system out and have worked out how to counter it.

[FermPundit]

How worried should we be right now?
I know it's said time and time again that we're missing half our first team at least but in the mdeium term at least there's no prospect of Mark Murphy, Mark Little, Barry Owens, Shane McCabe and Ryan McCluskey coming back let alone the others. We are now in serious danger of relegation and this Sunday's game against Louth is a must win in my opinion. Division Four would be a complete disaster - London, Kilkenny, Waterford, Carlow, Clare, Wicklow, Leitrim, all woeful and mostly nightmare trips.
Not one of our staring forwards or midfielders scored from play on Saturday and by all accounts it was a better display than against Roscommon. It doesn't say much for our season so far.
The IN today mentioned a S Ryan coming off the bench? Is that a f**k up and supposed to be Shane Lyons?
If Blobby is now suspended for a month we will really struggle. From what I've seen of the GAA and CCCC this year I have lost all faith in the disciplinary system and referees anyway so any appeal will likely be a waste of time. Daryl Keenan has a broken hand according to papers.
We certainly need Marty McGrath and Eamon Maguire back asap and forget about the experimenting at full-back IMO. Leave Lyons in there and steady the ship with a little experience at least.

I agree with your thoughts about full back. Shane Lyons needs to start. Niall McGovern is a good prospect but he's too inexperienced at this level for an important position like full back. When Lyons came on against Antrim he did quite well. We can appeal all we want but its extremely unlikely that Blooby's suspension will be lifted. When I saw the referee reaching for his pocket I just knew it was going to red, even though it hardly a yellow card offence.

With Blooby more than likely out, who do we play at full forward against Louth? Most of the forwards we do have are all of a similar size. He might go for Aidan McCarron, even though he has been disappointing so far this year. Chris O'Brien got injured in the warm up on Saturday so I don't the extent of his injury. Paul Ward or Ryan Keenan will probably start as well if Daryl Keenan is ruled out.

This year reminds of the league campaign of 2004. Things weren't looking too good back then, but everyone pulled together and we went on our best championship run. If we can get Marty McGrath, Eamon Maguire, Damien Kelly, Ryan McCluskey and the two Gallaghers back then we have a good chance of staying up. Our home games against Louth and Sligo are going to be crucial. I don't want to have to go to Cavan needing a win. We have a shocking record in Breffni Park.

[FermPundit]

There is  no way that Marty McGrath will be match fit and if we learned anything from last year, he should not be back until he is fully fit. 
I see from todays Irish news that Fermanagh are going to the CCC over Carson's sending off.
Could also do with getting Peter Sherry fit as well.   He is missed
James Sherry also went off injured.  If he does not make it for Sunday, we are in a mountain of trouble at midfield.
Fermanagh are a team in change and i honestly believe if we can stay in division 3 with this team, we will have done well.
Our remaining 2 home fixtures are huge and if we do not win both of them we will get relegated.
But the same problems remain and they were highlighted on Saturday.
We had one player who scored from play and that was our WHB Tommy McElroy.
Our forwards(with the exception of Blobby) are to small and light. 
The other forwards who could do a job are with St Gall's,  are unavailable for various reasons or need a good kick up the hole.
Opposing maangers have worked our system out and have worked out how to counter it.

It's interesting that you mentioned our system of play. In all the games this year we haven't really played with a blanket defence that everyone criticised us for over the years. Usually Mark Little or Ciaran McElroy would sweep up on the half back line, but I can't remember anyone fulfilling this role so far this season. Maybe the players aren't there to play this type of system.

[FermGael]

Suppose what i meant to say is that opposing managers have worked out that we have very few players that are confident of scoring from play. 

[118cmal]

Went to the game myself on Saturday.  As has already been mentioned here the referee was atrocious, one of the worst displays I have seen in years, but I suppose that is unfortunately the standard of refereeing in the country now.  However, whether with a good or a bad referee, Antrim were still much the better team.  They looked fitter, more mobile, hungrier and seemed to have a gameplan. 

Here's how I'd rate the players:

Jackson - Not bad for his debut.  Kickouts weren't mammoth but Cosgrove caught a good few around the middle so I suppose he did his job ok.  Made one clanger for an easy Antrim point but was steady if not spectacular.

Bogue - Thought he did quite well.  His man did little or nothing in the first half and then he did very well on Cunningham in the second half after Goan got a yellow.  Kicked a few wayward balls at the end.
McGovern - For his size, he does not impose himself enough.  Maybe it's a bit early to be playing him in such a key role in the side.  that said, he won't be the last Full Back to struggle with Antrim's FF this year.  A big man with an eye for a score.  Anyone know who he is?
Goan - Struggled with Cunningham in the first half, gave away a few scorable frees.

McElroy - Usual performance.  Great engine, scored a couple of nice points from play.
Mulrone - Thought he played well in the first half when he lumped a few balls in high to Blobbly.  Comfortable on the ball.  Struggled in the second half.
D Ward - Unspectacular, his man caused a few problems.

Sherry - Usual pretty steady game, thought he was unlucky to be taken off.
Cosgrove - Caught a few clean catches in the first half from kickouts but didn't really impose himself on the game either.  Perhaps a little lightweight for midfield at this level, but then again what are the alternatives?  Wouldn't giving him a game at CHF.

Flaherty - Tried very hard and probably had more possessions than any other Fermanagh player, always available for a pass and ran his socks off.
M Keenan - Anonymous both at CHF and again when moved into the two man FF line.
Jones - A big lad for his age.  Showed a little inexperience at times but that will come.  Moved into midfield towards the end and looked a little isolated.  Not afraid to throw himself about.


Connolly - quiet, but then again the supply into him was very poor.
Blobby - Very harshly sent off.  Showed well and caused a couple of problems.  Ball needs to be played in early to him.  If its a 50-50 ball, blobby will probably win it.
D Keenan - Battled bravely with poor supply coming into him.  Has bulked up significantly and still think he will be a force to be reckoned with later in the championship, especially if he has a big FF like Blobby to play off.


What does everyone else think?

I think talk of players returning is a little futile.  We need to concentrate on what we've got.  How much of a difference will Eamonn Maguire really make to that forward line?  It's the supply that's the main problem IMO.  Is Clucker definately going to line out?  With Owens' and McGrath's injury problems who knows if either have a full injury-free season in them?  Does McCabe have any real interest? With the current squad, I think it could be a short summer for us.

[haranguerer]

I think you're mental if you'd like to see K Cosgrove in chf 

Sherry was very quiet, but think this may have been due in part at least to injury, which is also why he was taken off I assume. He wouldnt be my choice for captain either, he drifts in and out of games, which is the antithesis of a captain for me...I presume Mal took that decision to try to get the extra bit out of him, but dont know how successful it'll be.

I dont think Daryl Keenan will be a force to be reckoned with later in the championship either, and not just because hes injured now.

The Antrim ff is Michael Magill. He will be useful for them in the summer, but I doubt he'll get as much space and time. They're still well worth a few quid for ulster imo.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

I think you're mental if you'd like to see K Cosgrove in chf 

Sherry was very quiet, but think this may have been due in part at least to injury, which is also why he was taken off I assume. He wouldnt be my choice for captain either, he drifts in and out of games, which is the antithesis of a captain for me...I presume Mal took that decision to try to get the extra bit out of him, but dont know how successful it'll be.

I dont think Daryl Keenan will be a force to be reckoned with later in the championship either, and not just because hes injured now.

The Antrim ff is Michael Magill. He will be useful for them in the summer, but I doubt he'll get as much space and time. They're still well worth a few quid for ulster imo.

Yeah that's Michael Magill of Randalstown.  Has played inter county hurling too.  He actually played in the 2006 championship game played in a deluge at Brewster Park and scored a couple of great points that day.  Definitely adds a physical presence in Antrim's FF line.  One of the better footballers in the county, good to see him back.