Allianz NHL Division Three Round Five
FERMANAGH manager Daithi Hand said the ‘standard of hurling was shocking’ as his side suffered a heavy 22 point defeat to Wicklow in Aughrim on Sunday.
The Erne men felt the wrath of the Leinster side, with Padraig Doyle scoring three goals as Wicklow romped to victory, with Fermanagh losing their fifth successive league game in a row.
Hand, joint-manager of Fermanagh along with Pete Galvin, was disappointed with the Erne performance in Wicklow.
“We had a game plan we tried to implement and unfortunately it wasn’t stuck to in some quarters,” Hand said, following the Fermanagh defeat in Wicklow.
“The positive side is our back six were overall excellent. As much of it was a scoreline at half-time, here was a very strong breeze there so we were hoping to contain that and come back in the second half.
“Obviously our sending off didn’t help that and it just got fairly raggity. It was just a poor game and all round the standard of hurling was shocking, but I suppose conditions didn’t help that.”
Fermanagh scored seven points and created several goal chances, but they weren’t able to score the much-needed major.
Hand felt there was some positive signs on the attacking front for the Erne hurlers.
“Our inside forward line in the first half were brilliant in terms of how they worked off the ball and trying to cause all the problems cause obviously Wicklow like to play out from the back,” added the Erne boss.
“They are well able to do that, so that was good to see. Iit’s back to the drawing board again for us unfortunately.”
“I thought Wicklow were there for the taking, and that’s no disrespect cause Bosco (Wicklow manager, Jonathan O’Neill) has done a brilliant job with them.
“We have done a lot of work this week in terms of the background information.”
With relegation looming for the Erne hurlers, they must now lift themselves for this weekend’s home clash against Roscommon in Brewster Park n Sunday.
“League and championship takes a different course. It’s a different step up and players take a different approach,” acknowledged Hand.
