Fermanagh have won the Lory Meagher Cup for a second time following a commanding win over Ulster rivals Cavan at Croke Park.
The pair have been battling it out constantly since the Breffni County's return to the inter-county scene in 2017 after a five-year absence. Ollie Bellew’s Cavan had won the group meeting between the two counties, but Fermanagh got their revenge when it mattered most.
Star of the show was Erne County youngster Tom Keenan. The attacker, who also lined out for the Fermanagh U20s earlier this season, hit an incredible 3-02 at the famous Dublin venue.
Despite Philip Brady finding the net for Cavan, it was Fermanagh who would take the title in comfortable fashion.
That looked an unlikely outcome as Cavan raced into a 0-05 to 0-02 lead with Brian Fitzgerald (0-03) and the Sheanon brothers, Cillian and Colum, on target.
Joe Baldwin’s side started to get to grip with proceedings from there with Caolan Duffy, free-taker John Duffy, dual player Danny Teague and Barney McAuley raising white flags to bring them level 23 minutes in on a 0-06 to 0-06 scoreline.
The sides would exchange goals late in the half with Fermanagh grabbing their first in the 32nd minute. Breffni goalkeeper Darren Sheridan fumbled a routine catch and although he did brilliantly to deny Keenan’s first effort, the Fermanagh player made no mistake when the rebound fell kindly to him.
Cavan had the ball in the net at the Davin End three minutes later as Brady flicked home an Enda Shalvey effort that had dropped short to leave them four behind at the break, 1-12 to 1-08.
Fermanagh made the perfect start to the second half as the ball was batted forward from the throw-in to Keenan who ran right at the heart of the Cavan defence and fired to the net with the help of a deflection to leave it 2-12 to 1-08 to the Ernemen.
Brian Fitzgerald tried to get Cavan back into it with a few scores but the Fermanagh points kept coming and the gap was nine points at the second-half water break.
Any thought of a stunning comeback was killed off 17 minutes from time. Sean Corrigan, outstanding once again to cap off a fantastic season for the player, intercepted a Sheridan restart and played in Keenan who made no mistake with an emphatic finish.
Fermanagh extended their lead further from there until the final whistle to allow team captain John Duffy to lift the cup for the county’s second win in the competition.
