Buried ghost back to spook Fermanagh

After Fermanagh's comeback against Monaghan ran out of road last week, their supporters were dismayed. "If there had been a few more minutes, I think we would have won," says county PRO Peter Cassidy. But it wasn't merely the agony of a tight championship defeat that depressed the home crowd in Enniskillen.

This afternoon the Bank of Ireland All-Ireland qualifier series makes its own bit of history. Fermanagh get their second chance against Donegal, the team they beat after a bruising replay last month.

This wasn't something envisaged by the new championship format. It could only arise in Leinster or Ulster where the make-up of the preliminary rounds mean that teams that play each other can end up in the same draw for the first round qualifiers.

It hadn't been expected in this case because Fermanagh were hot favourites to beat Monaghan. But it did.

"The immediate mood came after a poor performance against Monaghan and everyone was on a bit of a downer," says Pat King, who managed Fermanagh for four years up to last season, of the reaction to having to face Donegal for a third time.

"I think it was worse because people presumed it wouldn't happen and didn't want it to happen because it's very difficult to get a result against Donegal."

Coming into the match, psychological damage is divided, with Fermanagh's disappointment at finding themselves here balanced by discord in the Donegal management which saw selector Mickey Houston resign over team changes made during the replay.

Complicating the picture is the niggling circumstances of the replay. A physical, no-holds-barred sort of a match, it was ultimately decided by a late goal for Fermanagh. After the match, the managerial reaction was unusually bullish. "It was no fluke," said Fermanagh's John Maughan. " There was talk of that last year but I think we showed over the two games that we are more than a match for this Donegal side."

Mickey Moran, in his first season managing Donegal, appeared stung by the setback in a match his team had done enough to win and the jubilant reaction of Fermanagh supporters.

"We'll take this on the chin," he said. "We have decided we are going to train hard and see what we can do. And I'll tell you what, we will go further than Fermanagh."

Within the counties the remarks were played down. In the words of one observer, "Mickey can be a bit stroppy after matches". There is an acceptance that he was dismayed in the immediate aftermath and that Fermanagh, who only last year beat Donegal for the first time since the 1930s, are entitled to celebrate such occasions.

"I don't think there's been ill-feeling," says King. "Mickey spoke in disappointment and there's been no follow-up about it since."

"Fermanagh made a fair bit out of it," says Donegal's All-Ireland winning manager Brian McEniff, "but they don't beat Donegal that often so it was understandable."

The replay was, it is agreed, robust. "It was a wee bit contentious with strong challenges," according to McEniff.

"It was more a negative game than anything else," says King. "Anyone who played the first day wouldn't be allowed play the second. Both sets of forwards suffered. Brendan Devenney was very good the first day and never got going in the replay. The same with Stephen Maguire and to an extent Shane (King, his son and Fermanagh corner forward). It was a typical replay, the teams analysed what happened the week before.

"The first game had some delightful football. It was hard but free-flowing and with some excellent scores - as good as you'd see anywhere."

Underlying analyses of how the matches went is a dissatisfaction that the teams have to meet for a third time. There is a strong argument for separating teams that have already met to ensure they don't have to play again so soon. Although this is the only example of such a situation, it could have happened in three other cases as each of the preliminary round winners in Leinster lost their first round but managed to avoid each other in the subsequent draw.

"I would have to say that shouldn't be allowed happen," says McEniff. "You can get contention in games and making teams play each other again - particularly for a third time - creates friction. It would be better if teams didn't have to play a side from their own province in the first round."

King agrees. "I think it shouldn't happen. It's actually built into the system later on that in the quarter-finals, teams who played in a provincial final won't be drawn against each other. I think it would be a good idea if that was extended to all the rounds."

At least there is some consolation in knowing that whoever wins today won't have to worry about meeting for a fourth time.