By Niall Gartland

THE very best teams have effectively made the blanket defence redundant, but Fermanagh were on a hiding to nothing against Monaghan in the Ulster Championship quarter-final, according to Aghadrumsee stalwart Ciaran Carey.

The gap between the elite group of teams in Division One and the chasing pack seems to be widening with every passing year, especially as they seem to have figured out how to navigate their way around a massed defence.

Carey doesn’t blame Fermanagh for bringing bodies behind the ball – indeed, he thinks they performed about as well as could be realistically expected – but he believes there was never going to be a repeat of their stunning upset against Monaghan of three years ago.

“Bridging the gap a number of years ago was quite achievable because of the deployment of a blanket defence, but now teams have figured it out, and the work the top teams are putting in is obvious to see.

“Recycling the ball, using the full width of the pitch, having players on the loop, all those things were very evident on Saturday, and it’s also worth noting that four of Monaghan’s defenders scored from play.

“To be honest, I thought there was an air of inevitability about it, but I wouldn’t blame the players or management. Unless you’re on the ground, it’s hard to appreciate the limited resources actually available to Fermanagh, and I think in recent years we’ve got very close to getting the best out of our players.

“When we beat Monaghan in 2018, the final scoreline was 1-8 to 0-10. It’s nearly impossible to hold a Division One team to 10 points, but nor do I blame us for setting up defensively. The last time we went all-out attack was in the first year of Pete McGrath’s tenure. It was one of the games of the year in Brewster Park, but they beat us by 2-18 to 3-13. A lot of people say we’re too defensive, but my answer to that is, fine, we go out and play attacking football, but we’ll end up in Division Four.”

Carey, who was more disappointed that they lost a winner-takes-all promotion play-off against Offaly, also thinks there was logic behind the decision to concede Rory Beggan’s kick-outs.

“People in Fermanagh are critical about conceding the kick-out, but against Longford in the league we found it very difficult to press the kick-out. For whatever reason, it’s not something we do very well with this current crop of players.

“We tried it a few times in the second half against Monaghan and Beggan still got the kick-out away. The danger with a goalkeeper like Beggan is that if you press his kick-out, he’ll hit a 70-yard ball over three-quarters of the team to someone running onto the ball and they’ll open up a goal chance.

“I remember having a conversation with a coach a few years ago, they were getting ready to play Scotstown in the Ulster Championship, and he was actually terrified of Beggan setting up chances, it’s incredible to think about.”

In contrast to Beggan’s short kick-outs, Fermanagh goalkeeper Sean McNally elected to go long from the restart, with a fair degree of success. Carey did note something else about the role player by Fermanagh’s young goalkeeper, which mightn’t have been obvious to those watching on television.

“Going back to the Longford or Offaly match, we tend to have two or three jumpers in the air rather than one. There’s been a lot of instances in those games where more than one person has jumped for a kick-out, and it gives you one fewer man on the ground. But at the same time I don’t think it was a significant problem or had a major bearing on the game.

“One thing I thought was interesting, and again this happened against Offaly when we were chasing the game, is that Sean McNally actually came outfield for the opposition kick-out. It’s something other teams might try when they’re behind.

“When we had our best spell of the game against Offaly, it was because Sean was actually coming out to pick up a player.

“He did that a number of times late in the game against Monaghan and it helped to close off one area of the pitch.”

Sean Quigley spent most of the game around 40 or 50 yards from goal even though he’s Fermanagh’s most dangerous inside forward. Again, Carey said it was perfectly logical.

“The thing about Sean is that he’s one of our few players who can kick the ball in really well.

“You look at Eoin Donnelly, he’s been an absolutely brilliant servant to Fermanagh, and there might be a possibility of using him in the full-forward line.

“You could even have the option of playing both Eoin and Sean in the full-forward line on occasion, but you’d need players who could get the ball into them properly.”