Gaelic Games

Football leagues wrap: Ulster teams impress with wins for Fermanagh, Armagh and Down

Wasteful Kildare left to rue chances at Brewster Park

Armagh's Conor Turbitt. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho
Armagh's Conor Turbitt. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho
Elaine Ingram at Páirc Esler
Gerry McLaughlin at Brewster Park
John Campbell at Athletic Grounds
Sat Feb 03 2024 - 21:15

National Football League Division 2: Armagh 2-16 Meath 0-10

A powerhouse second-half performance helped Armagh to make it back-to-back wins in Division Two of the Allianz Football League when they breezed past a hapless Meath side at the Box-IT Athletic Grounds last night.

Meath slipped quickly into their stride in the opening segment of the contest their fast-raiding sorties forcing their hosts on to the defensive.

It was after Aaron Lynch and Mathew Costello had landed an opening brace of points for the Royal county that they took an even firmer grip on proceedings when Eoghan Frayne and Jack O’Connor joined them on the scoreboard.

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Armaagh were restricted to occasional attacks, but they suddenly sprang to life when Conor Turbitt converted two frees to keep them in touch at 0-4 to 0-2.

And it was after this that Armagh found their rhythm with Rory Grugan and Stefan Campbell the architects of much of their attacking forays.

In a short, devastating burst spanning the 16th and 22nd minutes, Armaagh fired over three points on the trot with Turbitt collecting a brace and Grugan also finding the target.

Indeed, Meath were to score just once more before the interval as Kieran McGeeney’s side sustained their momentum.

When Turbitt steered over his fifth point in the 28th minute, this proved the signal for a home side scoring burst which saw Turbitt, Conor O’Neill and Grugan float over points that were handsomely embellished by a well-taken Cian McConville goal in the 32nd minute, which helped his side lead by 1-8 to 0-5 at the break.

But when Armagh engaged overdrive in the second-half, Meath were left on their knees. A second goal for the home side from Ciaran Mackin proved the signal for a sustained burst of pressure that saw Oisin Conaty, Jarlath Burns and Rory Grugan send the fans in the 9,035 crowd home happy,

In contrast, Meath boss Colm O’Rourke was forced to take stock of a disappointing after what proved to be a false dawn.

For his Armagh counterpart Kieran McGeeney, this win could prove the spur for a concerted drive to regain Division One status – but it will be a case of one step at a time.

Armagh: B Hughes; P Burns (0-1), A McKay, P McGrane; C McConville (1-1), G McCabe, A Forker; B Crealey, C Mackin (1-0); C O’Neill (0-1), R Grugan (0-2), J McElroy; S Campbell, C Turbitt (0-5, five frees), O Conaty (0-3). Subs: Conor Mackin for Crealey (47), J Og Burns 0-1 for McGrane (54), O O’Neill 0-2 for Turbitt (56), B McCambridge for McKay (57), R McQuillan for C O’Neill (66).

Meath: S Brennan; D Keogan, A O’Neill, M Murphy; M Flood, D Campion, S Coffey; R Jones, J Flynn; D McGowan, E Frayne (0-5, four frees), C McBride; A Lynch (0-1), M Costello (0-2), J O’Connor (0-1). Subs: S Walsh for Lynch (h/t) C Hickey for Flynn (44), R Kinsella for McGowan (46), D Moriarty 0-1 for McBride (66).

Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)

National Football League Division 2: Fermanagh 2-10 Kildare 0-12

Goals win matches as Fermanagh showed as they picked up two precious points against wasteful Kildare at Brewster Park.

The first goal had an element of good fortune as a high lob from Erne wing back Declan McCusker looked to be in Kildare keeper Mark Donnellan’s grasp, but the ball seemed to slip out of his hands into the net in the 27th minute, which put them into a 1-7 to 0-4 lead.

And Kevin Cassidy rounded off a fine move by netting Fermanagh’s second goal in the 62nd minute to seal victory.

But there was late drama when Kildare were awarded a penalty after Fermanagh midfielder Joe McDade was ruled to have made a foot block. The spot kick from Kildare’s Kevin Feely was brilliantly saved by Erne keeper Ross Bogue.

Fermanagh were quickly off the mark after an eight-man move that saw Lee Cullen point from an acute angle.

Kildare responded with a point from keeper Donnellan in a very evenly contested affair.

Garvan Jones put the home side back in front from a pointed free, but they were showing indiscipline in defence as Jimmy Hyland levelled matters with another pointed free for the Lilywhites.

Che Cullen drilled over a great point for Fermanagh from the sideline but another conceded free was punished by Kildare’s Paddy Woodgate as the game moved into the second quarter.

Fermanagh went back in front through another point from a tight angle from Sean Cassidy as Kildare wing back Brian Byrne was black carded.

Garvan Jones from a free and Ronan McCaffrey swapped points with Kildare’s Jimmy Hyland who got his side’s last point of the half.

But, the home side had a huge slice of luck when Declan McCusker’s high lob was fumbled over the line by Donnellan in the 26th minute as they led by 1-7 to 0-4 at the break.

Kildare were much better on the resumption and Paddy Woodgate had their first point from play and this was added to by a 45 conversion from Donnellan to leave four points between the sides.

Ultan Kelm landed a free for the home side and added another from play. It was Kildare who had the momentum with the pace of Alex Beirne causing the home side problems. And points from Mick O’Grady and Ben McCormack left just a goal between the sides as the Erne side led by 1-10 to 0-10 12 minutes from time.

But Fermanagh hit their second clinching goal after a five-man move opened up the Kildare defence and Cassidy slipped the ball to the empty net.

Fermanagh: Ross Bogue; Lee Cullen (0-1) Che Cullen (0-1), Oisin Smyth; Declan McCusker (1-1), Shane McGullion, Josh Largo Ellis (0-1); Brandon Horan, Joe McDade; Conor McGee, Ronan McCaffrey (0-1) Conor McShea; Ultan Kelm (0-2, one free) Garvan Jones (0-2, two frees), Sean Cassidy (1-1). Subs: John Reihill for Declan McCusker, Diarmuid King for Sean Cassidy and Tiarnan Bogue for Conor McGee (68).

Kildare: Mark Donnellan (0-2, two frees); Mick O’Grady (0-1) Shea Ryan, Ryan Burke; Kevin Flynn, Jack Sargent, Brian Byrne; Kevin Feely, Kevin O’Callaghan (0-1); Alex Beirne, Ben McCormack (0-2) Aaron O’Neill; Paddy Woodgate (0-2, one free) Shane O’Sullivan, Jimmy Hyland. (0-4, four frees). Subs: Luke Killian for Aaron O’Neill, Ryan Houlihan for Brian Byrne (h-t), Callum Bolton for Ryan Houlihan (49), Aaron Masterson for Paddy Woodgate and Paddy McDermott for Eoin Doyle (67).

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois)

National Football League Division 3: Down 3-16 Limerick 0-9

While Down got off to a slow star in Páirc Esler on Saturday, they made short work of Limerick in the end making it two wins from two in their Allianz League Division 3 campaign, with Jimmy Lee’s men still searching for a result.

This match was all but over at half-time with Down leading 3-8 to 0-5 at the half-time whistle. It’s worrying times for Limerick who suffered a 2-14 to 2-7 defeat at the hands of Antrim in the first round and looked outclassed in Newry on Saturday evening.

Limerick scored the first two points of the game with a terrific opener from Robbie Childs in the second minute and Peter Nash converting a free shortly after. Cillian Fahy almost slipped the ball into the net in the fifth minute, but that seemed to wake Conor Laverty’s players up and the onslaught began.

On nine minutes Jonny Flynn was pulled back for a penalty that Odhran Murdock drilled into the roof of the net. Down led 1-3 to 0-3 when Oisin Savage was on for a point but dropped the ball. He recovered well however and got his pass away to Daniel Guinness who slammed home a goal from the edge of the square.

Points from Murdock and a beauty from Liam Kerr gave Down a 2-5 to 0-3 advantage and with 23 minutes played that lead increased when Colm McSweeney was black carded for dragging Kerr back in the square and Murdock replicated his first penalty with a second in exactly same spot.

Down led by 12 points at the break and while Limerick repeated the pattern of the first with the opening score and the Mournemen were once again slow to get going, Pat Havern replied with a free 11 minutes in and Kerr sent the home side into double digits with a point set up with a terrific delivery from Guinness.

A spate of niggly injuries slowed the game down somewhat but the result was inevitable with the teams just going through the motions in the second half and the sizeable crowd losing interest and starting to head for the exits midway through the half.

Limerick were held to just three more points, while Havern knocked over four more frees and a brace of points from Shealan Johnston and a beauty swung effortlessly over the bar from distance by Murdock, finished the scoring at 3-16 to 0-9.

Down: John O’Hare; Peter Fegan (0-1), Ryan McEvoy, Jonny Flynn; Pierce Laverty, Daniel Guinness (1-1) Conor Francis; Odhran Murdock (2-3, two pens), Niall McParland; Rory Mason, Liam Kerr (0-3, one free), Shealan Johnston (0-2); Caolan Mooney, Pat Havern (0-5, all frees), Oisin Savage (0-1). Subs: Shane Annett for Mooney (H-T), Anthony Doherty for McParland (45mins), Andrew Gilmore for Savage (45mins), Ger Collins for Francis (54mins, Kevin Anderson for O’Hare (56mins))

Limerick: Aaron O’Sullivan; Jim Liston, Séan O’Dea, Brian O’Sullivan; Colm McSweeney, Robbie Childs (0-1), Paul Maher; Tommy Childs, Tommy Griffin; Iain Corbett, Cathal Downes, Cillian Fahy (0-2); Barry Coleman, Eoin Hurley, Peter Nash (0-5, four frees). Subs: Shane Costello (0-1) for Doherty (51mins), Joe Sweeney for Baynam (51mins), Andrew Meade for Hurley (57mins), Shane Doherty for Maher (59mins)

Referee: Jerome Henry (Mayo)

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