Fermanagh county football team
The Fermanagh county football team represents Fermanagh in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Fermanagh GAA, the County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team compete in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Ulster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Fermanagh's home ground is Brewster Park, Enniskillen. The team's manager is Mickey Harte.
The team have never won the Ulster Senior Championship, the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.
History
Fragments of a poem from 1806 describe a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, County Monaghan.
Fermanagh are the only team in their province to have never won the Ulster Senior Football Championship.
Fermanagh beat Cavan in the 1914 Ulster semi-final and were nominated by the Ulster Council to play against Wexford in the All-Ireland semi-final. Because the train schedules did not allow them to get back for Sunday night, and the Great Northern Railway Company refused to run a special train because they were opposed to sport on Sunday, Fermanagh had to abdicate the responsibility to Monaghan, who later beat them in the Ulster final anyway.
One of Ulster's great footballers, Armagh-born Jim McCullough, played for Fermanagh in the mid-1930s and helped them reach the 1935 Ulster final and 1936 National League final.
Peter McGinnity was the outstanding player of the under-21 team which reached two All Ireland finals and defeated Derry and Tyrone to reach the 1982 Ulster final, Despite a Peter McGinnity goal that put them in the lead with 20 minutes remaining, they lost 0-10 to 1-4 to Armagh.
Under manager Pat King, they managed a hat-trick of success in 1997 in the B Championship, McKenna Cup and Division 4 of the National League.
Since 1982 Fermanagh have reached 5 semi-finals in the Ulster Championship; beating Derry in 2008 and joining Armagh in the final. That game was played on 20 July 2008, a closely fought game finishing in a draw after normal time. Armagh eventually ran out winners by 6 points in the replayed game on 27 July.
Fermanagh were a beneficiary of the change to the GAA championship in the 2000s. In 2003, in Charlie Mulgrew's first season in charge, they beat Donegal in the Ulster championship, then Meath and Mayo in the All Ireland qualifiers to reach the quarter-final. They went to a replayed semi-final in 2004, beating Meath, Cork and Donegal and most memorably of all Armagh, thanks to a late point by Tom Brewster, before losing to Mayo. In 2006 despite running All-Ireland favourites Armagh close twice in the Ulster Championship, Fermanagh yet again ended the season without a trophy after losing out to neighbours Donegal in the fourth round of the Qualifiers. The 2007 season saw Fermanagh lose their National League Division one status having failed to register a single point from the seven match campaign. They performed quite well in the championship however, only losing by an injury-time point to Tyrone in Ulster. They defeated Wexford (for the second consecutive season) in the first round of the all-Ireland qualifiers. However, they were unable to record a third win in four seasons over Meath in Navan in July, losing narrowly by two points despite dominating the latter stages. Charlie Mulgrew, manager for four seasons, stood down after this match. He was succeeded by Malachy O'Rourke.[1]
[2][3] O'Rourke's first season led to promotion from Division 3 and a first appearance in an Ulster Final for 26 years, losing eventually in a replay against Armagh.
Current squad
- Manager: Rory Gallagher
- Selector: Ryan "Ricey" McMenamin
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Squad as per Fermanagh v Dublin, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter Final, 2 August 2015
Honours
- All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championships:
- 1966, 1996 St Comhghalls Lisnaskea
- All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 1
- 1959
- Ulster Junior Football Championships: 2
- 1943, 1959
- Dr McKenna Cups: 4
- 1930, 1933, 1977, 1997
- Ulster Under-21 Football Championships: 3
- 1970, 1971, 1994
All Stars
- 1982: Peter McGinnity
- 2004: Barry Owens, Martin McGrath
- 2006: Barry Owens
- 2015: Seán Quigley
Notable players
The Irish News 125 Fermanagh Player List
- Mick Brewster - Enniskillen Gaels
- Tom Brewster - Enniskillen Gaels
- Paul Brewster - Enniskillen Gaels
- Issac Gerard Curran - Lisnaskea Emmetts
- Ciaran Campbell - Tempo
- James Cassidy - Teemore
- Owen Clerkin - Roslea Shamrocks
- Dominic Corrigan - Kinawley
- Paul McKenna - Kinawley
- Collie Curran - Lisnaskea
- John Donnelly - Trillick
- Tommy Durnien - Lisnaskea
- Raymond Gallagher - Erne Gaels
- Rory Gallagher - Erne Gaels
- Peter Greene - Belcoo
- Vincent Greene - Kinawley
- Eamonn Maguire - St Patrick's
- Stephen Maguire - Belcoo
- Johnny Monaghan - St Joseph's
- Cormac McAdam - Lisnaskea
- Ryan McCluskey - Enniskillen Gaels
- Eamonn McDonnell - Knockninny Harps
- Peter McGinnity - Roslea Shamrocks
- Martin McGrath - St Joseph's
- Sean McGrath - St Joseph's
- John Hanna
- Paddy McGuinness - Devenish
- Frank McGurn - Belnaleck
- Sean Maguire/Fr Ignatius McQuillan - Newtownbutler
- Barry Owens- Teemore
- Paul McCarron- Tempo
- Barney Reilly - Teemore
- J. J. Treacy - Devenish
- P. T. Treacy - Devenish
- Niall Corrigan - Enniskillen Gaels
- Sean Quigley - Roslea Shamrocks
- Ruari Corrigan - Kinawley
- Seamie Quigley - Roslea Shamrocks
References
- "O'Rourke is new Fermanagh manager". BBC News. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- "Fermanagh 1-11 Derry 1-09". RTÉ Sport. 22 June 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
- "Owens goal puts Fermanagh into Ulster SFC Final". Irish Independent. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.