Fermanagh fit for Lilywhite test: Cassidy

By Barry O’Donnell

UPBEAT Fermanagh wing-forward Jonathan Cassidy sees no reason why the side can’t head through the Croke Park tunnel under the bowels of the Hogan Stand this Sunday with their chests pumped out, fully believing they are capable of going all the way in the Tailteann Cup as they prepare to face Kildare.

The Enniskillen Gaels man was one of two players drafted into the starting 15 for the Sligo match ahead of throw-in last weekend, and he did his credentials no harm with a fully-committed and energetic showing in the quarter-final win over Sligo.

It’s now three victories on the spin in the competition for the Erne men, and while the draw for the last four could have been kinder, there is no sense of inferiority complex as far as Cassidy is concerned.

In hindsight their recent group victory over Wexford at Croke Park provided the perfect preparations for what lies in store this weekend back there, albeit against significantly stronger Leinster opposition in the shape of the Lilywhites. “We put in a good performance in the second half against Wexford,” said Cassidy.

“We know now that we can go to Croke Park and put in that sort of display, That’s something which we will hopefully do again next week. It’s all knockout football and whoever puts in a performance is going to win on the day. We back ourselves against any team in the Tailteann Cup.”

Fermanagh have had many titanic tussles with Sligo over the years and the two-point final margin at Brewster Park won’t have shocked too many observers. However, there was no doubting the hosts’ superiority on the day and Cassidy was pleased to finally get over the last-eight hurdle in this particular competition.

“We were just glad to get over the line. There was a bit of relief afterwards. It was a tough battle.

“This past few years we haven’t got over the quarter-finals in the Tailteann Cup so it was nice to put in that type of performance and now we can focus on next week at Croke Park.”

After the concession of a goal midway through the first half, Fermanagh reeled off eight points without reply in the run-up to the interval against Sligo, a power packed riposte which Cassidy felt spoke volumes for their growing belief and maturity.

“I thought we reacted really well to that. We controlled the rest of the first half after the goal. It showed the growing maturity in the team. I think we have grown a lot over the last two or three years.

“Hopefully we have matured enough to maybe go on and win this competition though there is a lot of work to do yet obviously.”

Cassidy felt that the painful lessons absorbed in the aftermath of the bitter loss to Down in the Ulster Championship has helped them to ride out the odd turbulent storm in the midst of a white hot knockout tie.

“I think we really learned a lot from the Down game.

“For 10 minutes there we were able to get our hands on the ball and withstand their press and come up the pitch to get a score at the other end.

“Against Down we were squeezed in and couldn’t get out.

“ I thought a lot of men showed real leadership to get on the ball and work our way out of tricky situations.”

Check out this weekend’s preview podcast with Damien Diver looking ahead to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. We also have an interview with Fermanagh manager Kieran Donnelly ahead of Sunday’s Tailteann Cup semi-final.