Canavan famously sees red in Ulster final replay as Fermanagh’s brilliant summer continues

FERMANAGH’S fine summer continued as they picked apart Westmeath to book a first All-Ireland quarter-final spot since the unforgettable summer of 2004.

Pete McGrath’s side were far too good for their opponents up in Cavan, eventually powering home to a 1-13 to 0-7 win to secure a Croke Park date with Dublin.

Tómas Corrigan was the star of the show with a 1-7 tally as the Erne County came good in the second half after a wide-laden opening 35 minutes.

Elsewhere in the Qualifiers, Kildare posted a fine 1-21 total – big shooting in the pre-FRC era – to end Cork’s season.

Cork boss Brian Cuthbert would step down in the days after following an underwhelming two-year spell in charge of the Munster giants.

In Tyrone, there were celebrations for junior club Clogher where they defeated Owen Roes for their first championship win in six years.

Paul Tierney was the hero with a late goal while Dominic McKernan and Emmet McConnell doubled up to tie down Tyrone u-21 star Cathal McShane.

ONE of the most famous rows in GAA history saw Peter Canavan see red moments after entering the field as a second-half substitute in their Ulster final replay loss to Armagh.

His arrival sparked a full pile on with Ciaran McKeever dragging him along the turf and seeing red too for his actions.

A bad day all round for Tyrone as they lost 0-13 to 0-11 in a spite filled game both on the pitch and in the stands.

Current Orchard boss Kieran McGeeney was in inspired form with Ronan Clarke’s three points from play coming in very handy too.

The low-key celebrations afterwards spoke volumes with both players knowing a bigger prize lay in wait, and there would be plenty of drama to come yet in this rivalry.

There was controversy after the match though when referee Michael Collins acknowledged that he had sent Stevie O’Neill off in error and given the roasting he had dished out to Francie Bellew in the drawn encounter, that was some loss for the Red Hands.

It is understood that Collins had believed he had booked O’Neill so flashed a yellow and a then a red for his late hit on Andy Mallon nine minutes from time.

Ulster GAA were also understood to be looking at staging Croke Park provincial final replays back up the road after a massive downturn in attendance.

The drawn encounter had brought a crowd of 60,186 but despite the drama, the replay saw just over half of that number.

There was more joy for Tyrone on the hurling front as they edged a Nickey Rackard qualifier classic with Longford.

The Leinster side looked dead and buried but went on a rampage with a quick-fire 2-7, but Tyrone were able to hang on to win 3-14 to 3-13 – Cathal McErlean, Aidan Taggart and Kerry McIntosh with their goals.

TYRONE captured a first Ulster title since 1989 when they beat Cavan 2-13 to 0-10 in Clones.

The scoreline may suggest a hammering, but two goals in the final minutes put some real daylight between the teams with Adrian Cush and Mattie McGleenan putting the icing on the cake.

Cavan roared into the game but Finbar McConnell denied but Fintan Cahill and Dermot McCabe and in truth, the underdogs needed one of those to go in to set up a platform for the rest of the final.

In the minor final, a certain Enda Muldoon lit up the tie as Derry defeated Down 2-12 to 1-7.

Muldoon finished with 1-7 on a classy Oakleaf side that included the likes of Johnny McBride and Paul McFlynn. Paul Cunningham scored the Down goal.

More worrying for Derry fans however was that Anthony Tohill made his Derry City debut in a 4-1 loss to Scottish side Raith Rovers.

The then 23-year-old Tohill was expected to play centre-half at the Brandywell but actually played in midfield and came close to scoring from a free-kick.

Billy Morgan was the toast of Cork as he guided the Rebels to a seventh Munster title during his reign.

They were too good for rivals Kerry, winning 0-15 to 1-9.

While Cork may have won seven under Morgan in that spell, they have only won six in the 30 years since. One of those was again under Morgan’s watch in 2006.