Teemore 0-07 Kinawley 1-14

On a wonderful day for making round bales Dom Corrigan’s dynamic boys in blue certainly made hay in a power-packed second-half display that simply blew Teemore away, on a scorcher at the Mountain Road.

The Shamrocks led by 0-06 to 0-04 at the break and could have been more ahead after missing a great chance of a goal in the opening minute.

They defended very well as Kinawley seemed to be relying too much on the talismanic Tomás Corrigan up front.

Indeed, it was Corrigan who hit all of their opening-half scores from frees.

But his father Dom Corrigan’s de-brief had the desired effect after half-time as Kinawley stormed out of the blocks and outscored the home side by 1-10 to 0-01.

They also missed a penalty when Sean McManus’s effort slipped wide of the post.

But their momentum was unstoppable, and Ruairi Corrigan’s well-worked and taken goal in the 54th minute sealed the deal.

The home side settled swiftly and should have goaled when Oisin Murphy put Colm Mc Nally in on goal.

He elected to punch the ball across the goal where Sean McNally eventually pointed as a goal chance beckoned and Aaron McManus made it 0-02 to 0-00 with a fine long-range effort.

Exchanges were rugged and referee Niall Cullen was taking no-nonsense as he set down an early marker by handing out yellow cards to Jamie Hughes and Aaron Lee of Teemore and James Allen of Kinawley in a period when Teemore sweeper Cian McManus shipped a number of heavy challenges.

Colm McNally made it 0-03 to 0-00 by the 15th minute before Tomás Corrigan opened the scoring for Kinawley from a free as he seemed to be their lone target man up front.

Corrigan added another free before Aaron Lee hit a great long-range point for Teemore and Murphy made it 0-05 to 0-02 after a snappy move in the 26th minute.

Ruairi Maguire and Corrigan (0-02) made it 0-06 to 0-04 at the break with all to play for.

But it was a totally different Kinawley that bounded out at the break.

They moved the ball at pace and the powerful Breen brothers took over at midfield.

Fermanagh hurling star Tom Keenan was on the field for Kinawley and he made a difference, and Dylan Boyle and Tomas Corrigan smartly levelled matters for the visitors by the 33rd minute.

They were awarded a penalty after Ciaran Breen was hauled down while bearing down on goal.

Sean MacManus missed the spot kick but a somewhat shell-shocked Teemore failed to grasp the initiative as Kinawley turned on all the jets.

Undaunted by the miss and two missed points the impressive Dara Cathcart gave them the lead for the first time, a lead they never looked like losing.

Liam Owens and Tomás Corrigan made it 0-09 to 0-06 before Cian McManus made it 0-09 to 0-07.

But that was as close as the under-pressure Shamrocks were to get as Kinawley surged down the field in waves and sub Caolan Brennan, Cathcart and Ciaran Breen quickly made it 0-12 to 0-07 by halfway.

It was all Kinawley at this stage and Ruairi Corrigan hit a cracking goal with a clinical finish after a lightning move had unlocked the Teemore defence.

Man of the match Tomás Corrigan got the final two scores to seal a most impressive second half from a Kinawley side who showed why they reached and should have won the Fermanagh SFL title in 2022 and let a seven-point lead slip against last year’s champions Derrygonnelly in the championship semi-final.

That kind of pedigree is always significant.

They now face Enniskillen in a fortnight and that could be a cracker.

Teemore will be disappointed with their second-half display but there is a difference in quality between Division One and Division Two as they learned on Saturday.