Brendan McGarry pucks the sliotar up the field.
Longford…………………………..1-18
Fermanagh……………………….2-15
THERE was a strange atmosphere to this game with neither team wanting to give too much away before they meet in the final of the Lory Meagher Cup on June 7 in Croke Park.
Both teams had beaten Warwickshire and Leitrim in the first two rounds of group games and as such had already booked their place in the final before meeting each other in the final round.
In fact the Croke Park final will be the third meeting of the year as the sides also clashed in division 3a of the National Hurling League.
That was a full blooded affair, also played in Longford, that Fermanagh won so it has been advantage to the Erne men thus far, although this will see no laurels rested on by the men in green.
Both teams rested a number of their starters on Saturday and as a result there can be little read into this encounter.
That said however there was still a game to be played and some of the Fermanagh fringe players did their chances no harm with how they performed.
One of those was Rory Porteous who bagged both goals for the Erne men.
The first arrived 25 minutes into the first half when he got on the end of a lovely flowing move involving Ryan Bogue and John Duffy to hammer home.
That score put Fermanagh, who had the advantage of the strong breeze in the first half, into a seven point lead but on the stroke of half time Longford hit back with their only goal of the game.
The home side were wasteful in that first half, especially from placed balls while the visitors had the deadly accurate Paul McGoldrick on their free taking duties and the Lisnaskea Emmetts player was on top form throughout hitting 0-09 over the course of the 70 minutes.
Longford had pulled the game level mid way through the second half when Porteous swooped for his second goal of the day getting in between the full back and goalkeeper to first time the ball to the net.
The score gave Fermanagh a three point advantage but at this stage Longford were beginning to make use of the breeze and it was no surprise to see them pull the game back to all square by the time the final whistle was blown.
Fermanagh had solid performers all over the field. Martin Beggan was impressive at midfield while young Barry Duffy notched a point in an excellent display.
Other point scorers included the experienced Ryan Bogue who landed two 65’s while John Duffy also got on the scoreboard to go with the valuable playing time he got under his belt as he continues his come back from cruciate ligament hell.
All in all Fermanagh will be pleased to get this game over with no major injuries presenting themselves.
Lisbellaw have a league fixture this Saturday night that will no doubt cause the management one or two fraught thoughts but if all come through that game unscathed it will be a case of all roads leading to Croker for the June 7 showdown.
And one thing is for sure, it will be a more fiery affair than that of the weekend and Fermanagh will be going in all guns blazing.