Fermanagh 1-19 Leitrim 0-04

Fermanagh minor captain Ronan Brennan lifted the Celtic Challenge Corn Tom Hogan Cup after a convincing win over Leitrim in Ballyshannon last weekend.

After finishing third in their Celtic Challenge group with Leitrim behind them in fourth, the two teams then met in Saturday’s Tom Hogan Cup final following Leitrim’s win over the Erne County in the group stages.

However, a rejuvenated Fermanagh were too much for their opponents and raced into an 0-08 to no score lead at half-time.

They hit 1-11 in the second half to shore up their win as Dan O’Connor and James Tierney led the scoring in a one-sided contest at Fr. Tierney Park in the sunshine.

After a tetchy opening few moments, Dan O’Connor would hit the first three scores of the game to give Fermanagh an early lead as they played with the breeze in the first half.

O’Connor converted a free and a point from play before a brilliant sideline cut that he scooped over the bar with 10 minutes gone.

Leitrim offered little going the other way as Fermanagh took full advantage of their bright start to the contest.

Matthew Ferguson turned his man to point as James Tierney then hit three unanswered points to open a 0-07 to 0-00 lead on 23 minutes.

O’Connor used his pace to run away from two Leitrim defenders and point from the right-hand side for his fourth score of the game but he also missed a free late in the half with his side taking an eight-point advantage into the halfway mark.

O’Connor would make no mistake with a free at the start of the second half and Tierney also added two fine scores until Leitrim eventually got off the mark with a 65’ coming from Killian White nine minutes into the half.

A second came quickly after through an Isaac Conway Russell free which O’Connor matched.

Ronan Brennan sent a searching ball inside the 45’ that was caught by Tierney who then turned his man and fired in a shot that found the net from range to make it 1-12 to 0-02.

O’Connor (2), Daire Donegan, Tierney (2) and Aodan Maguire all split the posts to put the game beyond doubt but there were late points for Leitrim via Donnacha Glancy and Eoin McLaughlin.

Glancy hit a long-range free and McLaughlin got his side’s first point from play with three minutes to go but they were only consolations as Fermanagh ran out victorious.