Comer's goal helps Galway to turn it around

FERMANAGH 0-10

AN arctic day in Brewster Park on Sunday but yet there was quite a warm glow to it for Galway footballers as they took an important step in building up an early head of steam for a promotion drive through the mid-Spring period.

Sunday’s result was quite satisfying, especially in the context of Galway’s interval predicament when they trailed Fermanagh by four points at 0-7 to 0-3 – however, they took ownership of this match in the early seconds of the second half, and after that, they never looked like relinquishing their grip on the tie.

Before a crowd of about 4,500 at a very neat and compact venue, Fermanagh were well set up in the first half, winning a steady stream of possession from their own kick-outs, while up front a lively full forward line of Eddie Courtney, Sean Quigley and Tomás Corrigan missed very little.

Galway hadn’t played that badly in the first half but paid a high price for being slightly loose with the Fermanagh kick-outs, while some decent attacking moves too frequently ended up with either a possession turn-over or an errant final delivery.

Fermanagh though must be given credit for delivering an array of quality scores into a viciously swirling north-east wind with Aidan Breen, Eddie Courtney, Sean Quigley and Tomás Corrigan all hitting the target with admirable precision.

Mayo referee Jerome Henrygot under the skins of the home supporters after eight minutes when he black carded Fermanagh captain Eoin Donnelly for an innocuous enough looking challenge – probably a ‘bit of lip’ afterwards did the damage.

Maybe there could have been a couple more ‘blacks’ issued through the later exchanges, but therein lies the core issue with this rule, namely its consistency of application.

The time could be right to show ‘red’ for a black card system that puts far too much pressure on referees, but by contrast the ‘mark’ had a good day with some clean fetches in the middle of the field – most notably from the Galway pair of Fiontán Ó Curraoin and Paul Conroy – rewarded with guaranteed possession.

Despite some good ‘shaping’ in the first half, the Galway attack didn’t deliver any serious return on the scoreboard with only Paul Conroy, Michael Daly and Barry McHugh (free) raising white flags for Kevin Walsh’s side.

Scarcely 17 seconds had elapsed on the clock after the half-time break when a quick-fire Galway move helped to change the course of the match.

Paul Conroy had spotted that Damien Comer had ghosted inside his marker and the Annaghdown target-man hammered the ball past Chris Snow in the Fermanagh goal to cut the deficit to one point at 0-7 to 1-3.