St Patrick’s Athletic 4
Co. Fermanagh 0
By Aaron Hazzard
There was disappointment etched on the faces of the young Fermanagh players in Castlerock on Tuesday afternoon, following a defeat at the hands of a technically and physically strong St. Patrick’s Athletic side. After the opening day’s heroics against Rangers, this defeat was hard to take.
However, the Ernemen can be proud of the courage and determination shown. It took two world-class efforts in the first half from Blake Devereux Lynch and Daniel O’Halloran to give the Dublin side their two-goal cushion, before two unfortunate goals in the second, including a close range finish from Hugo Fitzgerald, sealed victory for the Dublin-based side.
St. Patrick’s started brightly without creating any clear-cut chances. Finn Reilly directed an early effort just over the bar before Kimson Kibaga’s effort was gathered by Fermanagh goalkeeper Shea McManus.
Fermanagh’s first chance came from a deep Nathan Coyle cross, which was headed into the path of Luca Hall, but his driving effort was gathered by Pat’s goalkeeper Sebastian Clarke.
The Fermanagh defence was resolute throughout, Daniel McCarron providing excellent cover at the back and Nicky Milligan acting as the first line of defence.
It was going to take a moment of brilliance to break the Ernemen’s resolve, which came in the 27th minute. Lynch picked the ball up on the edge of the box and rifled a stunning effort into the top corner of the McManus goal.
Two minutes later, another moment of quality doubled the advantage for the Dublin side. O’Hallaron showed excellent composure to shoot from a tight angle, directing a fine effort across goal and into the far corner.
The two late first half strikes bred confidence in the Pat’s camp and they got a third five minutes into the second period.
Fitzgerald forcing the ball home from close range following a goalmouth scramble.
The Erne county had an opportunity to pull a goal back soon after, a deep Timothy Armstrong free kick found Jay Ely at the far post, with Clarke once again on hand to gather.
On the 54th minute it was 4-nil, a low effort from the edge of the box went just beyond the reach of the unfortunate McManus, deflecting off the post before finding the net.
Fermanagh’s heads could have dropped at this point, but the young men deserve immense credit for the way they hung on, Aodhan McGranaghan providing one example of this when he ushered out a promising attack for a goal kick.
The county side still broke forward and McCarron free kick opened up an opportunity for Cathair Maguire which was blocked into the path of Alfie Jones, whose effort curled just wide of the far post.
Goalkeeper McManus was busy in the closing stages, making a couple of fine stops, including one point-blank stop with the final kick of the game to leave the score at 4-0.
Fermanagh: Alex Kavanagh, Timothy Armstrong, Daniel McCarron ©, Alfie Jones, Nicky Milligan, Jay Ely, Kacper Ferens, Shea McManus, Kayden McGovern, Nathan Coyle, Luca Hall
Substitutes: Jake Agnew, Jim Sherry, Lucas Connolly, Cathair Maguire, Niall Goodwin, Kimi Thompson
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