Donegal secure second Ulster Minor League win with victory over Fermanagh

Donegal landed their second win of the 2025 Ulster Minor League with a solid win on the road to Fermanagh.

It may have been a 'get out of jail card' for Barry Ward's side last weekend in Letterkenny against Cavan, but the men in green and gold were never in doubt as they dominated from start to finish on the road to Roslea.

This victory almost guarantees a league semi-final with two wins from two for this U-17 side.

The home side led once throughout the game in the opening minutes when Shay McCarney hit Fermanagh into the lead from a free after Ronan O'Donnell was caught charging out of his goalmouth.

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But it didn't take long for Donegal to push themselves into the lead with five points in-a-row inside the opening 10 minutes.

Even though there was a lot of criticism towards how the Donegal side started against Cavan last week, you could only praise their strong start aginst the Erne County with captain Kalvin McLoughlin tying the affair before Thomas Lenehan hit a free into the wind to push his side in front.

Fermanagh couldn't get a handle on their kickouts, allowing Conor Farrell to feed Shane Sweeney through to fire over before Farrell himself kicked over from a tight angle, while Tomás Carr nailed over a '45' to leave it 0-5 to 0-1.

The match took a lull for the next 10 minutes with both teams sides forcing the ball, resulting in a series of turnovers but Donegal had their chances at goal, goalkeeper Thomas Fitzpatrick denied first Lenehan with a superb save before Cathal McGee struck wide when he broke the Fermanagh line but was off target.

The home side hit their first score in 20 minutes when Oisin Donohue found space to strike over the bar, but Donegal hit back with two super points with Lenehan hitting his second of the day, while Joseph Gibbions nailed from distance.

Donegal had a third chance of raising a green flag when Shane Sweeney's kick across the goalmouth landed into the hands of Lenehan, but the Four Masters man was spotted touching the ball on the ground to the Donegal sideline's frustration as they started to inform their players to kick for points.

And while Fermanagh attempted a slight comeback with Conor Casey and McCarney, Donegal hit the last four scores of the half with Gibbions nailing another super point from just inside the second 'D', before Farrell, Sweeney, and Lenehan all hammered over to leave the scoreline 0-11 points to 0-4 at the break.

Fermanagh started the scoring in the second half with a mighty kick with Tomas Cathcart attempting to lift his side's hopes, but then Carr took control for Donegal and led the way by getting involved in the next three scores, hitting one himself, while kicking the ball in for Lenehan to pop over, and handing the ball off for Joe Doherty to blast over the bar, with the latter on for goal but struck too high.

Then came the Donegal goal that saw the ball start with Cathal Doherty, who broke the line, fed it over the head to Carr who played it out wide to Mathew Enright who led the final pass to Gibbons who blasted it home into the net.

Fermanagh didn't die out and landed a goal of their own when Casey used his strength to drive past three defenders, giving O'Donnell no chance in the nets but the scoreline still stood at 1-15 to 1-6 as Donegal still looked well in control.

That was added with a series of Fermanagh wides and with Donegal floating over the next five points as Lenehan kicked three more frees, while Sweeney and substitute Conor Gallagher broke through to hit over under pressure, securing what looked like another Donegal victory.

The home side hit the only two-point score of the day when Cathcart kicked from outside the 'D' from a free, but it made little difference as Donegal were too far ahead to finish 1-20 to 1-8 in Roslea.

Fermanagh scorers: Conor Casey 1-1; Tomas Cathcart 0-3, 1tpf; Shay McCarney 0-3, 3fs; and Oisin Donohue 0-1 each.
Donegal scorers: Thomas Lenehan 0-8, 4fs; Joseph Gibbions 1-2; Shane Sweeney 0-3; Conor Farrell, and Tomás Carr 1 '45', 0-2 each; Conor Gallagher, Joe Doherty, and Kalvin McLoughlin 0-1.

Fermanagh: Thomas Fitzpatrick; Ben Caughey, Conal Crudden, Padraig McAloon; Ronan Prunty, Niall Flynn, Ciaran Shannon; Rian Kennedy, Lorcan McGrath; Oisin Donohue, Conor Casey, Oisin Morris; Shay McCarney, Tomas Cathcart, Cohen Murphy. Subs: Callum Connolly Bannon for Donohue (HT); Alex McCaffrey for Caughey (36); Aodhan Maguire for McGrath (38); Ruairi Leonard for McCarney (44); Ronan Fitzpatrick for Murphy (50).

Donegal: Ronan O’Donnell; Christopher O’Donnell, Jamie Gavigan, Daithi Molloy; Conor Farrell, Evan Daly, Cathal Doherty; Kalvin McLaughlin, Cathal Mac Aoidhh; Joseph Gibbions, Tomas Carr, Joe Doherty; Shane Sweeney, Matthew Enright, Thomas Lenehan. Subs: Danny McCready for Gavigan (38); Odhran Ryan for Enright (45); Conor Gallagher for Sweeney (51); Matthew McGinley and Gareth Brennan for Doherty and O'Donnell (both 54).

Referee: Thomas Devlin (Derry)