Donnelly 'proud' as Fermanagh's agonising wait goes on

"It's gutting but I suppose it's sport."

That was the assessment of dejected Fermanagh manager Kieran Donnelly after his team lost a game they should have won at Brewster Park.

After bossing the second half, Fermanagh's seven-year wait for an Ulster Championship win looked a near certainty when they led by seven points with seven minutes to go.

But two late goals by Daniel Guinness and Ryan McEvoy snatched a dramatic 2-19 to 0-23 win for Down.

"I said to the boys in there - and they're devastated - that collectively I'm just proud of them, they did everything we asked of them," said Donnelly.

"That's the way the game has been swinging all year in terms of momentum and when you lose it as we did for those last five minutes...it was one of the best Fermanagh performances in a long time so we feel we have to take the positives out of it."

Fermanagh's utter despair was in stark contrast to the huge relief felt by Down but both camps were in agreement about one thing - that the better team had lost.

"As someone says, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask," said Down selector Mickey Donnelly, referencing the infamous 18th century highwayman.

"I'm sure Fermanagh are devastated and rightly so. They deserved to win the game."

Down will play Monaghan or Donegal in the Ulster SFC semi-final on Sunday 27 April.

The new rule enhancements introduced in 2025 have contributed to some memorable comebacks and momentum swings this year and on Saturday we witnessed another one.

Fermanagh were cruising leading 0-22 to 0-15 with 63 minutes played and while Daniel Guinness' goal after 65 minutes raised the temperature, it seemed his two-pointer a couple of minutes earlier was really the moment that changed everything.

"We seemed to get as much a bounce out of the two-pointer as the goal, it was a phenomenal score," said Mickey Donnelly.

"We were four up and in the blink of an eye we were four down, it was crazy stuff. Maybe that's the new rules.

"Fermanagh just monopolised possession and as a result we were second best.

"We have lost a lot of tight games this year, most games in the league came down to the last play, and today was no different.

"Maybe it was a reflection of all the games we came out of on the wrong side this year. and ultimately you have to praise our lads for the character they showed."

Having narrowly failed to gain promotion from Division Three, Fermanagh had targeted this game for weeks.

At home, against a side that might be low on confidence after relegation from Division Two, this was a good opportunity to prove serious progress is being made under one of the most astute managers in the business.

"Collectively we defended really well and collapsed really well because they have serious pace from deep and we nullified a lot of their key players," said Kieran Donnelly.

"They can all hold their heads up. I don't think anybody was below their best for large junctures of the game.

"We matched their energy and we had a lot of team scores, and that's what we're about that as a county anyway, it's all about the structures of our play and how we build our play.

"When we were on top we could have tagged on a few more points but to score 23 points and lose a championship game is a tough one as well. It's a long time since we did that as a county."

Conor Love scored 0-5 from play in the second half for Fermanagh. He was named man-of-the-match yet ended up on the losing side.

"Yeah, Curly [Love] has been brilliant the last few weeks and we expected that performance from him today, I knew he would deliver and he did," said Erne boss Donnelly.

"He has really knuckled down this year, he's got himself in great shape and he's a big-game player and he proved that. He was one of many, though."

Donnelly admitted he never felt Fermanagh had the game won, even with such a commanding lead.

Past experiences had him braced for the improbable.

"All year we were six or seven down in games and came back so at no stage did I feel comfortable," he said.

"The two pointer gave them momentum and they won the next kick out and we just lost those couple of critical break balls in that last five minutes.

"But if there's any small positive to take, it's that we performed on the day. And that's something we have to try and build on."