Dramatic Down win with late late show

Dramatic Down win with late late show

23 April 2025

TWO late goals helped Down pull off a grand heist as they beat Fermanagh and snatched a place in the semi-finals of the Ulster Senior Football Championship.

The Mourne Men built a healthy cushion in the first half and came out the other side of a late flurry from the home side to take an 0-11 to 0-8 lead into the break, after losing captain Pierce Laverty to a black card.

However, the Ernesiders picked up where they had left off shortly after the second half commenced, overcoming the deficit and creating a five-point buffer for themselves.

Down struggled to come to terms with their opponents’ resurgence and appeared to be running out of time, only for a Pat Havern point and goals from Daniel Guinness and Ryan McEvoy to produce a late smash and grab.

Fermanagh came storming out of the blocks, opening the scoring after just 50 seconds when Darragh McGurn’s shot clipped the crossbar and bounced over.

Visiting goalkeeper Ronan Burns was no spectator in the early stages, producing a dazzling save to push Garvan Jones’ explosive effort wide, but his counterpart, Sean McNally, converted from the resulting 45.

Down got up and running in the third minute, with Odhran Murdock’s driving strike putting their first point on the board.

Havern pointed from a free, following an illegal back-pass from the home side, before Danny Magill put them in front for the first time.

Jones fired the hosts level and although only four minutes had been played, Burns was called into action to dispel another clear-cut goal chance.

McNally converted his second 45, before Eugene Branagan levelled for Down and traded points with McGurn.

Down racked up six unanswered points in a mere eight-minute spell, displaying their ability to turn it on at any time, courtesy of scores from Guinness, Murdock, Doherty, Burns (45) and Magill.

Their rampant performance was stopped in its tracks when Laverty found himself in receipt of black card, allowing an O’Brien free and points from Jones and Josh Largo Ellis to drag the Erne County to within two. John McGeough split the posts to settle the visitors’ nerves, affording them a three-point lead at the mid-way point.

Guinness powered the first point of the second half over the bar, but Down were quickly pinned back by a rejuvenated home side. Burns was having a generational game, and he showed his class yet again to deny Joe McDade a certain goal.

However, Down were not so lucky when Jones converted two frees and Ryan Lyons reduced the deficit to one.

Conor Love and Havern exchanged points, before the Fermanagh man hit another two in a matter of minutes, edging his team back in front.

The hosts pushed on with a Lee Cullen two-pointer and started to pull away from Down when Jones and Johnny Cassidy added eye-catching scores. They appeared to be semi-final bound after Love added his fourth and fifth points of the game, stretching the lead to seven.

Down’s Shay Millar took aim at goal and looked to have found a game-changing major, only for his shot to drift over the bar instead.

McEvoy responded to Ronan McCaffrey’s point, but Fermanagh hit back through Declan McCusker to maintain pole position.

That was until Guinness followed a well-taken two-pointer up with a spectacular goal and Havern converted twice to level the scoring.

The pendulum of momentum started to swing heavily in Down’s favour as time began to fleet and that is when they seized the opportunity. A fine passing move between Guinness and the re-introduced Laverty created space for McEvoy, who found the net to complete a stunning comeback and book a date with the semi-finals.

Down do not have much tie to sit back and admire their Enniskillen endeavours, travelling to Clones, Co Monaghan, to battle it out with Donegal for a place in the Ulster final on Sunday.

Throw-in is set for 3pm at St Tiernach’s Park.

Fermanagh: S McNally, C Cullen, L Cullen, O Smyth, J Cassidy, D McCusker, F O’Brien, J McDade, D McGurn, C McGee, R Lyons, P Breen, J Largo Ellis, G Jones, C Love. Subs: S McGullion, R McCaffrey, S Cassidy.

Down: R Burns, P McCarthy, P Fegan, C Doherty, R Magill, P Laverty, M Rooney, D Guinness, R McEvoy, D Magill, O Murdock, E Branagan, J Guinness, P Havern, J McGeough. Subs: A McClements, S Millar, C Mooney, C McCrickard, P Brooks.