The Fermanagh Junior squad ended their run of Super Cup warm-up tournaments with a victory over County Tyrone and a defeat to County Antrim in the Erne Shield at Castle Park Centre in Lisnaskea.
As winners of the Tyrone-based tournament the previous week the Fermanagh youngsters were hoping to repeat that triumph on home soil, but a 4-2 defeat to a strong Antrim side in the first match ended their hopes of outright victory.
“We started poorly,” admitted Fermanagh Junior coach Oisin Maguire.
“It was a lacklustre start and Antrim were the better team. Despite the start that we had we did get a few chances, but the referee deemed quite a few to be offside, some correctly and some not. In the second-half we improved. It was still not good, but the substitutes came on with a point to prove and some of them cemented their spot in the second game and gave us a bit of a selection headache.”
A Jay Ely lob from 35 yards had pegged back Antrim after their bright start, but Fermanagh were trailing 3-1 at the half-time interval. Antrim added another goal in the second half, with a second strike from Ely coming too late to change the course of the contest.
Fermanagh bounced back quickly against Tyrone, scoring 30 seconds after the kick-off through Ely again, as he ran on to a long pass from Timothy Armstrong and rounded the keeper.
Their advantage was short-lived however as Tyrone scored twice before the break to take the lead.
Substitute Kimi Thompson scored five minutes after the interval to level the match again, and Ely then scored twice to register his second hat-trick in a month.
He put his side 3-2 up with a 25-yard free kick into the top corner, and then gave Fermanagh a two-goal cushion, with Tyrone’s last-gasp goal proving to be merely a consolation.
The loss to Antrim ended a five-game unbeaten streak for Fermanagh, and Maguire admits the coaching team have been delighted with their progress.
“As a whole, it has been a great learning experience for the lads to see the level of the Super Cup opposition,” he said.
“It has been nice that they have been able to build up some winning momentum and that has solidified the trust in the coaches and each other, and I think what we are most impressed with is the attitude and the speed they have gelled together. They are coming from six or seven different clubs so to have gelled together as a unit so quickly is really impressive.”
Fermanagh will continue to play friendly matches in the lead-up to the tournament, with plans to play three games in three days in an attempt to replicate Super Cup conditions.
When the tournament does come around, there has been a change of opponents for Fermanagh in the group stage matches.
Bahrain are no longer attending the tournament and have been replaced by St. Patrick's Athletic, but Maguire believes the Dublin club will provide an equally tough test.
“With how prestigious the Super Cup is you know you are going to be facing top-class opposition, whether it is Bahrain or St. Pat's,” he said.
“It’s nice to face international opposition and challenge yourself on a global basis, but St. Pat's are a well-known academy in Ireland and it will not be a walkover. I have no doubt it will be just as much of a challenge, and it will be another opportunity for the boys to prove themselves on that stage.”
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