Fermanagh success depends on St Mick's effect

Fermanagh's Eddie Courtney won a MacRory medal with St Mick's in March

DOWN will come out and attack Fermanagh as early as they can in this weekend’s Ulster Minor Football Championship quarter-final at Brewster Park.

That’s what the Erne county boss Simon Bradley expects anyway, and he has coached his team on how to deal with that eventuality.

“If I watched how we play then I would expect them to come at us as quick as they can. They will want to get at us early, maybe score a quick goal, and then try and stay on top of us,” said Bradley, who is in his first year in charge of the minors.

“We will be trying to soak up as much of that pressure as we can for as long as we can. The worry is that they get a goal in the first ten minutes and pull away. I would like it to be tight at half time.”

Bradley described Down’s strike force as exceptional. This year, and last year for that matter, the Mourne county has produced teams with a propensity to find the net.

In their only championship match last year, Down scored five goals against Armagh, the eventual Ulster finalists. This year, in the Ulster minor League, they scored two majors in the shield semi-final against Donegal, which they lost.

Fermanagh got as far as the shield final as well, but they were beaten by eventual winners Armagh, 2-18 to 1-8.

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday May 31. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent or, for only 90p, buy the online version by clicking here