Exiles put Erne to the sword

by Oli Skehan , 25 June 2011

London recorded their first championship win in 34 years at Ruislip on Saturday as they ran out deserving six-point victors over Fermanagh in Round One of the All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers.


The Erne County's trip to the English capital was always going to be fraught with danger and so it proved as the Exiles pushed on from leading 0-8 to 0-1 at the break, eventually putting 0-15 on the scoreboard to Fermanagh's 0-9.

London went into the game full of confidence having pushed Mayo all the way in the Connacht SFC quarter-final and that promise was fulfilled in front of a paltry crowd as Paul Coggins' charges ended Fermanagh's interest in the championship following their hammering by Derry in their Ulster SFC opener.

The hosts were aided by a stiff breeze in the opening half and led by four points with 17 minutes on the clock - two of those points coming from the boot of Eoin O'Neill.

Paul Geraghty and Mark Gottsche kept London ticking over while Fermanagh almost made it to half-time without a score but Tomas Corrigan saved the Ulster side from that ignimony with a point after 34 minutes.

With the wind at their backs John O'Neill's troops were considerably better after the interval, with John O'Flanaghan particularly impressive, but they were unable to peg back their opponents and a late run of scores from Ciaran McCallion, Killian Phair and Cathal O'Sullivan saw the Exiles through and their name will now be in the hat for the Round Two draw on Sunday evening.  

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