Cavan secure Croker slot with win over Fermanagh

Tailteann Cup quarter-final

Cavan 2-16

Fermanagh 0-13

Paul Fitzpatrick at Brewster Park

Cavan made it win number 10 for the season with a comfortable victory over Fermanagh at Brewster Park.

The stated reason for organising the early rounds of the competition on a regional basis was to piggy-back on the established local rivalries and these sides were certainly familiar foes; this was the ninth meeting in league and championship since 2012 and Cavan have now won seven of those, with today’s win the most one-sided of the collection.

Key to Cavan’s win were Thomas Galligan and Gearoid McKiernan, who landed 1-9 between them in two excellent displays.

At half-time, Cavan held a useful four-point lead, 2-5 to 0-7, but Fermanagh, who fell six points in arrears early on, should have been closer, registering nine first-half wides.

Cavan got off to a wonderful start when Galligan won the throw-in and stormed through the heart of the Fermanagh defence before tucking away to the bottom corner for the opening goal with just 14 seconds on the clock.

By the ninth minute, the Blues, dominating on kick-outs, had extended their lead to 1-3 to 0-0. After patient play, Galligan drifted in to the square and was picked out by the influential McKiernan for Cavan’s first point and McKiernan turned finisher for the next after a quick break.

McKiernan added another, firing over left-footed from 35 metres, but after Ryan Jones drove over from 45 metres to open Fermanagh’s account in the 10th minute, there was little between the sides.

After some textbook defending from Padraig Faulkner, Killian Brady set Galligan up for another but Fermanagh were growing into the game and after a Cavan kick-out malfunctioned, Sean Quigley curled in a free off the ground.

Terrific scores from James McMahon and Ryan Jones left just the goal between them with 20 minutes played and a Quigley free cut the gap to two but that was as good as it got for the Erne men.

After Galligan made a nuisance of himself, Faulkner side-footed to the net following a scramble to make it 2-4 to 0-5. Fine strikes from Daragh McGurn and Quigley (free) were followed by a punched point for Galligan but Fermanagh were edging closer and when Faulkner picked up a black card, they should have taken advantage.

However, five wides in as many minutes before half-time saw their momentum stall and Cavan would dominate the second half.

Points from Jason McLoughlin, Paddy Lynch (free) and a super Conor Brady effort from the right wing put some daylight between the sides. Fermanagh continued to rack up the wides – they had 14 in total – as Cavan registered again through Lynch, Thomas Galligan, Raymond Galligan (45), Cormac O’Reilly and a couple of high quality scores from McKiernan.

Fermanagh were heavily reliant on Quigley’s frees to keep them in contention as Cavan ran out comfortable winners to secure a semi-final place in Croke Park.

Cavan: Raymond Galligan (0-1, 45), Cian Madden, Padraig Faulkner (1-0), Killian Brady, Jason McLoughlin (0-1), Killian Clarke, Conor Brady (0-1), Thomas Galligan (1-4), James Smith, Oisin Kiernan, Gearoid McKiernan (0-5), Gerard Smith, Ciaran Brady, Paddy Lynch (0-3, 2f), Niall Carolan

Subs: Cormac O’Reilly (0-1) for C Brady (ht), Martin Reilly for Madden (53), Luke Fortune for Carolan (60), Oisin Kelm for Breen (62), Oisin Brady for J Smith (65), Michael Argue for Lynch (66)

Fermanagh: Sean McNally, Ultan Kelm, Jonny Cassidy, Luke Flanagan, James McMahon (0-1), Richard O’Callaghan, Declan McCusker, Ryan Jones (0-2), Joe McDade, Josh Largo-Ellis, Ryan Lyons, Aidan Breen, Stephen McGullion, Daragh McGurn (0-2, 1f), Sean Quigley (0-8f)

Subs: Ciaran Corrigan for McGullion (14 mins), Conall Jones for McDade (temp, 23 mins), John Rehill for McCusker (46), Ronan McCaffrey for O’Callaghan (59), Garvan Jones for Lyons (69)

Ref: Paul Faloon (Down)