Corrigan puts brave face on rout by ‘probably best side in country’

FERMANAGH manager Dom Corrigan won’t have taken many positives from yesterday’s spanking in Croke Park, but he at least had the consolation of being beaten by a county that he described as “probably the best team in the country.”

In reality, it's hard to say just how good Tyrone are after Fermanagh's no-show in the first quarter-final. Certainly, Kerry or Roscommon will learn little from the debacle, but Corrigan is adamant that Mickey Harte's men are within a whisker of capturing the county's first senior All-Ireland title.

"Well, we got a bad drubbing from Kerry early on in the qualifiers last season and I said then that the team that would beat Kerry would win the All-Ireland," the Kinawley man said after the 19-point defeat. "The team that beats Tyrone will go on and win it. They'll be hard to stop, but there's still quite a few good teams out there yet." For Fermanagh to trouble a hugely-fancied Tyrone yesterday, a healthy start with points on the board was a necessity. Instead, they suffered an opening that left their challenge virtually stillborn inside twenty minutes. On the face of it then, simply a crippling case of stage fright?