After a final is drawn and replay called the questions usually looked at are who will have learnt more from the drawn game, who will feel as if they left it behind and who will be happy to get a second bite at the cherry.
Reflecting on last Sunday’s Senior Football Championship showpiece, Erne Gaels may be the ones who felt it was there for the taking to end a 43-year wait for the New York Cup to head for the Border village.
Overall they were the better side bar the opening 10 minutes of the second-half.
They had the only real goal chance when they turned over a short kick out but Ultan Kelm’s effort was well saved by Ross Bogue.
They responded well to conceding three early points in the opening five minutes of the second-half which turned a one-point lead into a two-point deficit hitting three pints of their own to regain the lead.
It was a time that Enniskillen could have really put their boot on Erne Gaels’ neck but they failed to do so.
And in the dying minutes, they had a brilliant chance to win the game but Shane Rooney’s free from 25 yards in front of the post fell short.
And as well as this they looked the livelier side in the closing stages of a game in which defences were well on top but there were still some brilliant scores from both sides who were level on six occasions throughout.
One thing that may hamper Erne Gaels will be the absence of Declan Bonner from the sideline.
The Donegal man was shown a red card for an incident involving the linesman during the second-half of last Sunday’s match.
Both sides failed to get their inside forwards involved close to goal.
Rooney and Enniskillen’s Conor Love were rarely seen and if they were, they were not in any dangerous positions.
Both are serious threats when given space and time and credit must be given to the jobs Josh Horan and Jack McCann respectively carried out but also the defensive units who were disciplined in the main throughout the game.
Even Seamus Ryder, Erne Gaels’ super sub from the last two games barely got a look-in when he was introduced in the second-half.
Ultan Kelm got his reward from coming out the pitch and spent little if any time in the full forward line. He won his duel with Johnny Cassidy who has been Enniskillen’s most influential player this season.
Cassidy and Kelm almost naturally gravitated towards each other in the game from the off and were never far away from each other throughout most of the game.
Kelm hit two fine scores from play and nullified Cassidy going forward.
Cassidy will be looking to turn the tables and the Gaels may try and free him up a bit more and trust that their defensive shape can deal with Kelm when he is in possession.
Without his driving runs forward Enniskillen struggled to break Belleek down.
Enniskillen did not reach the levels expected of them and it is up to Simon Bradley & Co. to get that out of the system and the players performing at their best. They may feel that they have got their second chance.
Callum Jones, Conor McShea, Love and Eoin Beacom will need to be more involved if Enniskillen hope to make it two titles in three years.
The introduction of Brandon Horan was a plus for them and he may come in to start on Saturday to add ballast around the middle.
For Erne Gaels they will need more out of Aogan Kelm, Rooney, and Tommy McCaffrey who did most of his work out the field and was not a scoring threat.
The poor conditions were a major factor in how the game panned out last Sunday. With the forecast being somewhat better for this Saturday it could let the play open up some more.
Neither team will have to make major changes to what they have been doing.
Defensively neither side will change much and if that is the case Saturday’s game could be another low-scoring affair with a little bit of magic deciding where the New York Cup goes in 2024.
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