Fermanagh secured their place in the knock-out stages of the Tailteann Cup when they did just about enough to take victory over Carlow at Netwatch Cullen Park on Saturday.
After being hit with points from Ché Cullen and Calum McCusker in the opening minutes, the home side replied and dominated for long spells.
Fermanagh's plan was to concede the kick-out and absorb Carlow's best efforts from deep. The visitors had a series of wides which came when they were under pressure from a vigilant Carlow defence who denied them the chance to really trouble the scoreboard.
Ross Dunphy hit Carlow’s first point with an overhead kick and they drew level with Darragh Foley converting a free. Carlow defenders Mikey Bambrick and Jamie Clarke both raised white flags to keep the home side in touch in an even first half.
Eric Molloy also had an outside goal chance for Carlow but the Fermanagh defence did well to clear the danger.
Minutes before the interval, Fermanagh’s Sean Cassidy found Conor McShea who treaded his way through and found the net from close range to give Kieran Donnelly's side a 1-04 to 0-06 lead at the break.
The second half continued much the same as the first with both sides making errors but also picking off some nice scores.
The visitors replacements proved to be inspired with Conor Love, Jonathan Cassidy and Darragh McGurn all taking some good points. Darragh Foley’s free-taking kept the home side in touch.
When Fermanagh were caught on the break, Carlow counter-attacked but the green and whites did well to get numbers back and a possible goal for the home side was prevented.
A trend of the second half was that every time Carlow got back at Fermanagh to bring the game down to a two-point margin, the Northerners were able to hit back for a point.
The eventual winners were never that convincing but they just about sucked the energy out of the Carlow effort. Love, with two points, Cassidy and McGurn all contributed to that with those scores,
In injury time, Carlow poured everything into an unlikely match-saving goal but, unlike last week when they sucker-punched Laois, there was no late reward here.
Carlow: Johnny Furey; Colin Byrne, Mark Furey, Eric Molloy; Mikey Bambrick (0-01), Jamie Clarke (0-02), Colm Hulton; Conor Doyle, Ross Dunphy (0-01); Aaron Amond (0-01), Paddy McDonnell, Conor Crowley; Liam Gavin, Darragh Foley (0-06, 0-05fs), Cormac Lomax (0-01).
Subs: Kevin Murphy for Gavin (49), Niall Hickey for Lomax (55), John Phiri for Hulton (59), Ciaran Moran (0-01) for Byrne (59), Shane Buggy for Molloy (68).
Fermanagh: Sean McNally; Lee Cullen, Ché Cullen (0-02), Jonathan Cassidy (0-01); Declan McCusker (0-01), Shane McGullion (0-01), Josh Largo Elis (0-02); Brandon Horan, Joe McDade; Callum Jones, Conor McShea (1-00), Fionan O’Brien (0-01); Ultán Kelm (0-02), Garvan Jones, Sean Cassidy.
Subs: Ronan McCaffrey for C Jones (31), Conor Love (0-02, 0-01f) for G Jones (47), Darragh McGurn (0-01) for S Cassidy (58), Aidan Breen for Horan (65).
Referee: Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone).
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