RECAP as Down hit two late goals to deny Fermanagh and seal semi-final berth (2025)

Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Fermanagh 0-23 Down 2-19

Down staged a late smash-and-grab raid with two late goals to deny Fermanagh a famous win in Saturday’s Ulster SFC quarter-final at Brewster Park.

The Erne County were chasing their first win in the provincial series since 2018 and were seven points up with seven minutes remaining thanks to a five-point haul from Enniskillen native Conor Love.

However, a 1-2 salvo from Daniel Guinness turned the game on its head before back-to-back points from Pat Havern levelled the contest.

Down’s comeback was complete when Ryan McEvoy slotted past Sean McNally with two minutes to go.

Both sides squandered a host of goal-scoring opportunities with McNally and his Down counterpart Ronan Burns in excellent form throughout.

Burns was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers as he called into action to deny Conor Love before making a stunning double save to prevent Ryan Lyons and Conor McGee.

Peter Fegan also made an early block on Garvan Jones with McNally converting two 45s while Odhran Murdock, Pat Havern (free) and Danny Magill were on target for the Mournemen in the first quarter.

Down hit 0-5 without reply with Magill, Murdock adding further scores with Eugene Branagan also hitting a brace of points while Daniel Guinness saw his shot hit the crossbar and go over.

Their momentum was checked after losing Pierce Laverty to a black card for a trip on Shane McGullion and Fermanagh finished the half strongly with points from Josh Largo Elis and Jones, albeit Down led 0-11 to 0-8 at half-time thanks to a late point from the impressive John McGeough.

The third quarter belonged to Kieran Donnelly’s men as they outscored the Mournemen 0-11 to 0-2 with Love bringing his tally to 0-5 with full-back Lee Cullen scoring the first two-pointer of the game.

Down appeared short of ideas and even shorter on time, but Guinness, Havern and McEvoy hit the key scores late on as Conor Laverty’s men sealed a semi-final date with either Donegal or Monaghan.

Fermanagh scorers: C Love 0-5, G Jones 0-4 (0-1f), S McNally 0-3 (0-3 45s), J Cassidy 0-2, Darragh McGurn 0-2, Lee Cullen 0-2 (1tp), D McCusker 0-1, Fionan O’Brien 0-1 (0-1f), Ryan Lyons 0-1, JL Elis 0-1, R McCaffrey 0-1.

Down scorers: D Guinness 1-2 (1tp), R McEvoy 1-1, P Havern 0-4 (0-3fs), D Magill 0-2, E Branagan 0-2, Danny Magill 0-2, R Burns 0-1 (0-1 45), C Doherty 0-1, J McGeough 0-1, S Millar 0-1

Here's a recap on how Saturday's game unfolded in Brewster Park. . .

Key Events

• Full-time: Fermanagh 0-23 Down 2-1917:44

• Goal! Fermanagh 0-22 Down 2-1917:42

• Goal! Fermanagh 0-22 Down 1-1717:37

• Save! 17:02

• We're back under way!17:00