Sport

O'Dwyer notches up another milestone

ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIERS ROUND ONE: Wicklow 0-17 Fermanagh 1-11 : MICK O’DWYER has completed his ambition of beating every…

Mon Jul 06 2009 - 01:00

ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIERS ROUND ONE: Wicklow 0-17 Fermanagh 1-11: MICK O'DWYER has completed his ambition of beating every other county during his terms as manager of different teams.

Until Saturday night, Fermanagh was the only county he had not conquered, but he accomplished that in some style at Aughrim as 13-man Wicklow shocked the visitors with a gutsy second-half fighting display.

Over the course of the match Wicklow were reduced to 13 men, first when centre forward Tony Hannon and then midfielder Thomas Walsh were sent off on second yellow cards.

And Wicklow fashioned their win by beating Fermanagh at their own game, employing the tactic of getting plenty of bodies behind the ball so favoured by Ulster teams.

READ MORE

Only briefly after centre forward Hannon was sent off on 33 minutes did Fermanagh look as if they were going to capitalise on Wicklow’s misfortune, with midfielder James Sherry blasting to the net to give them a 1-5 to 0-7 interval lead. Wicklow had forged double scores ahead in the opening 30 minutes, 0-6 to 0-3, with half those six points banged over by Hannon from frees.

“We played two men inside and we brought the rest of them back, we played an Ulster type of game and played them at their own game and succeeded,” said a delighted O’Dwyer afterwards.

Wicklow regained the lead in the opening minutes of the second half with points by Paul Earls from a 45 and Seánie Furlong and though Fermanagh drew level, and later cut the deficit to a single point 0-14 to 1-10, the home side had gained strength from adversity and kept driving at their opponents.

Jacko Dalton and Furlong put Wicklow three points clear and on 71 minutes Furlong kicked what looked like a great insurance point.

WICKLOW: M Travers; C Hyland, D O hAnnaidh, S Kelly; P McWalter, B McGrath, D Hayden (0-1); J Stafford, T Walsh (0-1); L Glynn (0-1), T Hannon (0-3, frees), JP Dalton (0-2), D Odlum (0-2), S Furlong (0-5, three frees), P Earls (0-2).

FERMANAGH: C Breen; N Bogue, H Brady, S Goan; P Sherry, B Owens, T McElroy (0-1); M McGrath (0-1), J Sherry (1-0); R Keenan, S Quigley (0-2), M Little; D Keenan (0-4, three frees), R Carson (0-2), E Maguire. Subs:C McElroy for Quigley, R McCluskey for H Brady, S Lyons for Keenan. P Cosgrove for McElroy.

Referee: M Collins (Cork).