Maggie Farrelly making history as she becomes the first female referee to officiate a senior men’s inter-county game with captains, Eoin Donnelly, Fermanagh, left, and Matthew Fitzpatrick, St Mary’s at the toss.
Fermanagh 1-13
St Mary’s 0-14
Fermanagh got 2016 off to a winning start with a two point win over St Mary’s in the McKenna cup in the novel surroundings of Garvaghey on Wednesday evening.
A little bit of history was made in the process with Maggie Farrelly becoming the first woman to take charge of a senior inter-county match.
It poured down and the sides were locked at six points apiece at the break, Eoin Donnelly, Tomás Corrigan (4) and Ciaran Flaherty all on the mark for the Erne men.
Fermanagh faced into the breeze for the second half and St Mary’s made full use to cruise into a five point lead.
However the loss of Matt Fitzpatrick to a second yellow reduced the Ranch to 14 men and with Sean Quigley introduced to the fray Fermanagh went on the offensive. Four points from the Roslea sharpshooter helped bring the contest back to parity.
The key score came when Ciaran Flaherty finished a flowing Fermanagh move to the students’ net. St Mary’s hit back with scores from Patrick McBride and Kevin McKernan, but Quigley added the insurance score to give Fermanagh the points.
Fermanagh
Chris Snow; Aidan Breen, Barry Mulrone (0-1), Pat Cadden; Ciaran Flaherty (1-1), Conall Jones, Sean McManus; Tom Clarke, Eamon McHugh; Eoin Donnelly (0-1), James Duffy, James McMahon; Kane Conor, Michael Jones, Tomás Corrigan (0-6, 2f).
Subs: Declan McCusker for McManus HT; P McCusker for Clarke HT; S Quigley (0-4, 2f) for Cadden 47m; Damian Kelly for McMahon 49m; Ryan Hanna for Corrigan 64m.
Referee: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan)