London tower above Fermanagh

London 0-15 Fermanagh 0-9:LONDON MANAGER Paul Coggins believes there's more to come from his side, after they ended a 34-year wait at Ruislip on Saturday. The Exiles turned on the style to bring Fermanagh's season to a premature end, tasting championship success for the first time since a Connacht SFC win over Leitrim in 1977.

“We’ve worked so hard to achieve this,” said Coggins. “They’re a great bunch of players and they’ve put everything into it. The work was put in and the performance was immense. The players have bought into everything we’ve asked them to.

“But the lads aren’t finished yet. We’re looking forward to the season continuing for another while. We’re not going to stop here. We’ve got to keep improving.”

Playing with the wind at their backs, London dominated the first-half and led by 0-9 to 0-1 at the interval. Points from Pádraig McGoldrick, Eoin O’Neill (2), Kevin O’Leary, Paul Geraghty and Mark Gottsche saw them race into a six-point lead, before Tomás Corrigan eventually opened Fermanagh’s account in the 32nd minute.

But London extended their lead courtesy of points from O’Leary, Tony Gaughan and O’Neill, giving them an eight-point half-time advantage. London probably should have been further ahead, having kicked seven wides, as well as hitting the woodwork twice.

John O’Flanaghan did his utmost to spearhead a Fermanagh revival in the second half. The wing-forward from Devenish kicked five points for the visitors, which helped to cut the gap to four points with nine minutes left.

But that was as good as it got for Fermanagh. Ciarán McCallion, Killian Phair and Cathal O’Sullivan sealed the win for London with three unanswered points in the closing stages, securing a thoroughly deserved victory.

Nevertheless, Fermanagh did have their chances and they finished the game with a tally of 15 wides. But it was a disappointing end to a forgettable year for Fermanagh football, which began with a dispute between several players and manager John O’Neill.

But, after impressive championship displays against Mayo and Fermanagh, the future looks promising for London football. According to Coggins, the improvement in his players’ fitness levels has been the main difference in 2011.

He said: “We have a very good panel of players who have worked extremely hard on their fitness. That’s the first thing I would concentrate on because our fitness is really at a high level. But it’s also down to attitude and work-rate. All those things together brought us the big performance.”

LONDON: E Byrne; B Comer, M Moloney, D McGreevy; S Doolan, T Gaughan (0-1), D O’Neill; D Hagan, M Gottsche (0-1); C McCallion (0-2), P Geraghty (0-1), S McVeigh; K O’Leary (0-2), P McGoldrick (0-2); E O’Neill (0-4, 0-2 frees). Subs: C O’Sullivan (0-1) for Hagan (48 mins), K Phair (0-1) for McGoldrick (60 mins), J Collins for McCallion (65 mins), S Kelly for O’Neill (69 mins).

FERMANAGH: J McGrath; J Woods, B Owens, M Jones; M O’Brien, N McGovern, K Cosgrove; R Jones, R O’Callaghan; J O’Flanaghan (0-5, 0-2 frees), N Cassidy, M Maguire (0-1); S Quigley, D Kille (0-2, 0-1 free), T Corrigan (0-1). Subs: H Brady for O’Callaghan (31 mins), D McCusker for Cassidy (37 mins), C O’Brien for Cosgrove (45 mins), P Ward for Corrigan (47 mins).

Referee: D Fahy (Longford).