Details

Date Time Competition Season
10 June 2023 6:00 pm Tailteann Cup 2023

Match Report

Barry Guides Laois To Quarter Final Berth

Two late points from Mark Barry saw Laois tiptoe past a fiery fourteen-man Fermanagh as the visitors booked their quarterfinal slot in the Tailteann Cup. 

Inside a tense Brewster Park, both sides needing to win to remain in the Tailteann Cup.

Thus ensued a cagey start, Che Cullen’s opening Fermanagh point three minutes not levelled for Laois until ten minutes had gone, Mark Barry pointing.

That, comparatively, opened the floodgates as quickfire scores from Paul Kingston and Shane McGullion followed leaving it 0-2 apiece after twelve minutes.

Laois then seized the initiative and steadily shifted the scoreboard their way, in a five-minute spell, they had struck thrice from the boots of Evan O’Carroll, Mark Timmons and Colm Murphy to pull three points ahead.

Despite Ryan Lyons hitching one back for Fermanagh, their heads were down, and the home faithful had more woe when injury forced off Tommy McCaffrey and Aidan Breen in quick succession.

O’Carroll’s second point deepened the dreary mood and Ryan Jones then made it worse, seeing a straight red card for a moment of angry recklessness, leaving his team with it all to do.

The hosts did though reduce the arrears on half time, McGullion’s well-struck second point leaving it a two-point match, 0-4 to 0-6.

That score, though, seemed to spark Fermanagh’s fight and they flew fantastically out of the traps after the break.

Four unanswered points saw them turn the tables and the score around so that they now led, with a man less too, by two points.

Luke Flanagan, substitute Conor McGee, Lyons’ second strike and Brandon Horan all transforming the mood in Brewster Park. 

Laois looked shell-shocked but turned the tie upside-down again, Timmons sauntering up field and caressing a calm finish beyond Sean McNally for the game’s opening goal.  The visitors in front once more, this time by one point, setting up a grandstand final twenty minutes.

Moments later, Fermanagh struck back devastatingly, Sean Quigley scoring their first goal with a well-taken effort before O’Carroll’s third point made it a nip-and-tuck, one-point margin once more, Fermanagh 1-8 to 1-7 up.

Kingston’s second point saw us at stalemate entering a nail-biting final ten minutes.

He made another decisive contribution with his third point, but Lyons repelled it with his own hat trick of points.

Barry, though, who opened the Laois scoring looked destined to be the match hero, his sixty-sixth minute strike sailing over the bar as Laois tiptoed ahead by a point.

With injury time nerves high, Barry had the last word, poetically rounding off proceedings with his third point as Laois’ scorers came full circle.

Of more significance to them will be the win that secures them a quarterfinal in the Tailteann Cup this year, despite being under the cosh, Laois very much kept their cool to advance.

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Fermanagh

1Sean McNally Goalkeeper
2Luke Flanagan Defender 37'
3Che Cullen Defender 3'
4Lee Cullen Defender
5Shane McGullion Defender 11', 37'
6Jonny Cassidy Defender
19Declan McCusker 18 Defender
8Ryan Jones Midfielder 33'
9Brandon Horan Midfielder 46'
20Aidan Breen 24 Defender
11Ryan Lyons Forward 24', 42', 63'
12Ronan McCaffrey Forward
13Ultan Kelm Forward
15Sean Quigley 10 Forward 51'
23Tommy McCaffrey 22
16Jack Kelly Goalkeeper
7Cian McManus Defender
10Conor McShea 15 Forward
14Darragh McGurn Forward
17Garrett Cavanagh Defender
18Josh Largo Ellis 19 Defender
21Oisin Smyth
22Garvan Jones 23 Forward
24Conor McGee 20 41'
25Conall Jones Defender
26Ciaran Corrigan Forward

Laois

1Killian Roche Goalkeeper
2Sean Greene Defender
3Trevor Collins Defender
4Robert Pigott Defender
5Padraig Kirwan 19 Defender
6Mark Timmons 22 Defender 49'
17'
7Patrick O’Sullivan Defender
8Kieran Lillis Midfielder
9Damon Larkin Midfielder 41'
10Colm Murphy 20 Forward 20'
11Paul Kingston Forward 11', 55', 61'
12James Finn Midfielder
13Mark Barry 24 Forward 10', 66', 72'
14Evan O’Carroll Forward 15', 31', 51'
15Eoin Lowry Forward
16Scott Osborne Goalkeeper
17Seamus Lacey Defender
18Alex Mohan Defender
19Sean O’Flynn 5 Defender
20Kevin Swayne 10 Midfielder
21Ciaran Burke Midfielder
22Dylan Kavanagh 6
23Damien O’Connor Defender
24Niall Corbet 13 Forward
25Brian Daly Forward
26Cathal Doyle Forward

Past Meetings

(Round 3)
3-15 3-9
NFL Division 3
Brewster Park

Ground

Brewster Park
Brewster Park, Factory Road, Kilmacormick, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ulster, Northern Ireland, BT74 6DU, United Kingdom