Preview: All-Ireland SFC quarter-final - Dublin v Fermanagh

August 01, 2015

Tomas Corrigan of Fermanagh and David Murray of Roscommon. INPHO

Jim Gavin has been busy doing his homework on Fermanagh these past seven days.

The Dublin manager admitted at his press briefing this week that the Ernesiders were a bit of an unknown quantity to him.

"Yeah, a lot of work was done over the last few days researching Fermanagh," he revealed.

"They haven't come across our radar before. We have been very impressed with what we have seen. [They're] a team that has played with a lot of structure. They have Pete McGrath, a man that I would have huge admiration for with all he has achieved in football going back to Burren in the 1980s."

The two Sam Maguire successes with Down in the nineties take pride of place on McGrath's illustrious managerial curriculum vitae and his midas touch has rubbed off on his adopted county.

The Fermanagh manager has called up Ruairi Corrigan to his starting 15 with Tiernan Daly dropping to the bench.

In a number of positional switches from last weekend's 1-13 to 0-7 victory over Westmeath, Marty O'Brien takes over at full-back from Daly while Declan McCusker drops back to the half-back line.

Star forward Tomas Corrigan, who hit the Lake County for 1-7 last Saturday, is confident they are capable of giving the Metropolitans a run for their money.

"Let's not be foolish about it - we're in bonus territory now. But there is no reason why we can't go out and give a good account of ourselves," he said.

Dublin, meanwhile, have named the same team which sauntered to a 2-13 to 0-6 Leinster SFC final victory over Westmeath three weeks ago.

Verdict - Dublin.

Dublin team: Stephen Cluxton; Jonny Cooper, Rory O'Carroll, Philly McMahon; James McCarthy, Cian O'Sullivan, Jack McCaffrey; Brian Fenton, Michael D Macauley; Paul Flynn, Ciaran Kilkenny, Diarmuid Connolly; Dean Rock, Kevin McManamon, Bernard Brogan.

Fermanagh team: Thomas Treacy; Mickey Jones, Marty O'Brien, Niall Cassidy; Declan McCusker, Ryan McCluskey, James McMahon; Eoin Donnelly, Richard O'Callaghan; Barry Mulrone, Ryan Jones, Ruairi Corrigan; Paul McCusker, Sean Quigley, Tomas Corrigan.

Match details: Sunday; Croke Park; 4pm.

Referee: Padraig O'Sullivan.

Odds: Dublin 1/100; Draw 33/1; Fermanagh 16/1.


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