Clinical Fermanagh account for neighbours Leitrim in Tailteann Cup

An impressive and much more clinical Fermanagh side outplayed Leitrim for most of the exchanges in Carrick-on-Shannon and came away with a well-deserved victory.

Leitrim got off to a bright start and after failing to convert two clearcut goal chances still grabbed an early lead thanks to Oisin McLoughlin, who put over two pointed marks in the opening five minutes.

However Fermanagh got on level terms four minutes later thanks to a Sean Quigley free conversion and a similar effort from Ronan Lyons.

The Erne then took complete control building up a decisive 0-05 lead by the 21st minute. In this period points by the lively Quigley, Ryan Lyons and Tommy McCaffrey put Fermanagh into the driving seat.

Despite being put on the back foot in this phase Leitrim still managed to stay in touch when replying with points from Donal Wrynn and Paul Keaney (free).

But Fermanagh finished the half strongly to lead by 1-09 to 0-04 at the interval thanks to an opportunistic Ryan Lyons goal and two points with Lyon's goal coming after a quickly taken Sean Quigley free that caught the Leitrim defence completely at sixes and sevens.

Leitrim managed to reduce the deficit to 0-02 in the opening five minutes of the second half thanks to goals from Paul Keaney and Mark Plunkett while Fermanagh's Declan McCusker and the home side's Pearce Dolan exchanged points in this period.

But that was the end to Leitrim's purple patch as Fermanagh then took complete control again for the rest of the game. In this spell when Fermanagh added an unanswered five points when Josh Largo Ellis, Conor McShea, Garvan Jones, and Ryan Lyons chipped in with crucial scores for the Lake County.

Leitrim's Tom Prior replied with a 57th minute point but Fermanagh made their advantage