GOAL… Marcella Monahan
Fermanagh stalwart Marcella Monahan provided a real piece of magic for Fermanagh that was arguably the turning point in the game.
Trailing by three points the wing half back claimed possession in her own defence and after working the ball up the field was on hand to take a neat fist pass from Sharon Little to crack home a screamer from 21 yards into the top corner of the net.
It brought Fermanagh level and although Waterford were to get their noses in front it was Fermanagh who were in the ascendancy and who would go on and win the game.
“It was frustrating because they were always able to keep those few point ahead and even when we got it back to a point they would get back to three in front. So I was thinking that we needed a goal but I never dreamt it would be me that would get it,” Monahan explained.
“I just kept running and when I received the pass I just saw the goal and went for it. I’m not sure I could do it again,” she said laughing.
Monaghan went on to reveal that the drafting in of Ballinderry’s Paul McIvor has been a masterstroke by the Fermanagh management. The highly regarded coach who has managed Dromore in county Tyrone and who will be over the Derry under 21 team this coming season has really helped Fermanagh with their belief according to Monaghan.
“Paul has been brilliant. I’m not sure any Fermanagh team would have been able to keep the heads when we kept falling behind but he has worked really hard with us on staying positive and believing in ourselves and that belief was vital at the weekend.”
The Erne win was all the more impressive given that for a large portion of the game they were without the services of Caroline Little, their outstanding forward.
“We have often talked about what would happen if we didn’t have Caroline because she is so important to us so the fact that we were able to win it with her missing for so much of the game makes it an even better achievement,” Monaghan said.
Going in at the break a point down the Newtownbutler lady revealed that the team were ‘happy enough to be in that position.’
“We had not really played well. To be honest for the first 20 minutes they really threatened us. They were so quick up front and we were struggling but just before half time we started to get to grips with them and in the second half we really started to improve and play much better.”
There was a ‘great high’ after the game according to Monahan but the experienced defender said that the ‘feet are back on the ground’ now as they turn their attention towards the semi final and a meeting with Roscommon.
“We have been saying all along that we wanted to get back to where we were last year. We suffered heartbreak last year in the last 40 seconds and now we are back in the semi final stage again and we don’t want to feel the same heartbreak.”
This Fermanagh team is building and after that performance of the season against Waterford who knows where this journey will end.