Fermanagh captain Eoin Donnelly hit out at the GAA after defeat to Clare in Ennis relegated the depleted Ernemen.
Eddie Courtney’s late penalty left Clare sweating somewhat but the Banner can turn their focus to potential promotion next weekend with Armagh coming to Cusack Park and everything to play for.
For Fermanagh, it’s relegation to Division Three and the prospect of the Tailteann Cup next year after a quite extraordinary couple of weeks.
Ten of Ryan McMenamin’s squad tested positive for Covid-19 with another seven isolating but requests to have this game postponed were thrown out.
McMenamin was able to bring 26 players to Clare and captain Donnelly said: “Fair play to the boys, they could have easily said ‘I’m wiped out here, I can’t do anything’ but they wanted to give everything for Fermanagh.
“Our medical staff were 100%, they checked in with the boys all the time which is probably more than could be said for the GAA themselves. We’re not high profile. I don’t think we got a lot of support.
“I work in the Ulster Hospital on the respiratory ward so obviously we treat Covid patients, we see them coming in and obviously we’ve seen an increase over the last while.
“It completely wiped out our squad the last while. Clare were accommodating, it’s disappointing that our request was denied.”
A superb goal from Joe McCann before half-time was the defining score of the game and gave Clare a 1-6 to 0-6 lead at the break.
The host were able to spring the likes of Gary Brennan, Podge Collins and David Tubridy from the bench to power home but had Ciaran Corrigan’s late shot not came back off the post before the penalty goal, Fermanagh could have nicked it.
