Peter Canavan felt his side produced a whole-hearted performance against Cavan
FERMANAGH manager, Peter Canavan was in a happier mood this week following his team’s win over Cavan, in Cavan. It brings them back on track for promotion, after their set-back against Monaghan.
However, the win was not without its down side, with a red card shown to former All-Star, Barry Owens at the end of normal time for an alleged kicking offence. He had come on as a sub 6 minutes earlier.
“I haven’t seen the DVD, but there didn’t appear to be that much in it”, Canavan added. “I haven’t spoken to Barry yet about it, but we’re going to have a look at it and if we feel it didn’t merit a sending-off, then we will certainly be appealing it.”
However, the manager waved away any notion of ‘bad blood’ at Breffni, given the fact that Sligo referee, Marty Duffy dished out four ‘reds’ and 11 ‘yellows’ (7 to Fermanagh).
“It spoiled the game somewhat, the sendings-off and the yellow cards. They had a man gone after 7 minutes and this was a big turning point in the game, so when Cavan reflect on the fact that if they had their full complement of players, I am sure they will believe the outcome would have been different.”
He went on: “Our boys produced a whole-hearted performance. It was a crucial game for both sides and, for us, it means we can look forward to the remaining games in the League in the knowledge that promotion is still very much in our own hands.”
Having led by a point at halftime, Canavan felt that Fermanagh upped the ante in their workrate.
“We were putting more pressure on the Cavan backs coming out with the ball, and that paid dividends for us. We were able to get our noses in front and stay at that till the finish.”
Indeed, he felt Fermanagh could have made life a little easier for themselves, had scoreable chances been taken. That, he said, allowed Cavan to come back to within a point, hence the importance of Daniel Kille’s 67th minute penalty.
“He was just on the pitch, and Tomas Corrigan, our assigned penalty kicker, was taken off 5 minutes before that, so Daniel, I thought, showed great character because, last week, he missed a few opportunities, and it would have been easy for him to shy away and put the onus on somebody else.
“There were 5 minutes plus injury time left at that stage, so to go for the goal was the right option, so I am very pleased for him.”