Cavan win but need to improve quickly

BOTH teams arrived in Clones full of confidence that they could come through this Ulster Championship first replay and earn a crack at a Donegal team that is widely perceived as being vulnerable.

In the end it was Fermanagh whose hopes were dashed but, there was little in the winning team's performance to suggest that their supporters' aspirations can be fulfilled quite yet.

Martin McHugh has done much to bring on his Cavan team and despite Fermanagh's hat trick of successes in the B Championship, McKenna Cup and National League it was his side which justifiably started as favourites. Last week's late escape should have been a jolt to the system for Cavan. But once again they found themselves struggling through the early stages of a passionate but often scrappy encounter which Pat King's side took an early grip on from midfield. Through those early stages Raymond Gallagher's shooting gave them the lead but his side's flaws were apparent even then the full forward missed two frees and, more significantly full back Sean Breen was booked for a foolhardy challenge.

Even then Cavan seemed to be the more inventive going forward but too often they were upset by their opponents' commitment in defence with possession either lost in the last third of the pitch or scoring chances squandered.

Nevertheless they gradually got back on terms with King's side and after Anthony Forde and Raymond) Cunningham had got them a couple of points on the board Fintan Cahill, named at full forward but taking the field on the right hand side of the half forward line, picked up his first point of the afternoon after a determined run from 40 yards out.

That levelled the score for the second time with Colin Curran having sent the ball over for Fermanagh in the 18th minute but Curran's point was his team's last for 18 minutes and by the time it arrived Fermanagh had been reduced to 14 men as a result of Breen's dismissal for a second bookable foul on Cahill.

Soon afterwards Cahill and then Ciaran Brady extended Cavan's lead but in added time of the first half, Fermanagh, courtesy of frees from Shane King and Gallagher, halted the slide. A game that five minutes earlier appeared over as a contest appeared once more to be hanging in the balance. King confirmed that feeling shortly after the restart with a free awarded for Bernard Morris's off-the-ball foul on him and for the next 10 minutes his side enjoyed enough possession to build a decent cushion.

They did pick up two farther scores through Gallagher and Curran but, with substitute Terry Farrelly settling effectively into his full back role at one end and Peters Reilly and Michael Graham dominating in the corners at the other the game began to sling decisively in favour of last year's semi-finalists.

Although Paul Brewster, supported by McBarron, continued to dominate in the centre field, Fermanagh's legs began to fail them as the game moved into the closing stages.

King tried to shake things up with the introduction of two attacking players, Kevin Donnelly and Mark Gallagher, but the latter, in particular failed to make an impression on Farrelly whose fine anticipation and significant height advantage served his team well through the last quarter of an hour.

Entering that spell, Fermanagh remained on level terms with points from Graham and Dermot McCabe - their only slip-ups. When McBarron's shot on goal was pushed wide by Paul O'Dowd with a little over 10 minutes remaining and Curran's subsequent 45 hit the crossbar they began to look deflated.

Gaps began to open up in their defence as their half backs tried to push forward and after a fine point from the right by Peter Reilly in the 60th minute Ronan Carolan, Jason Reilly, Graham and finally Peter Reilly all scored to put the result beyond doubt.

To their credit Fermanagh, not much accustomed to defeat these days, continued to battle with Mark and Raymond Gallagher picking up date points. A proud display ended on a sour note however when Breen angrily attempted to reach the referee after the final whistle only to be restrained by a group of officials.