Down end Fermanagh dreams

Down 1-11 Fermanagh 0-7

Down finished with 12 men on the pitch in Newry but still emerged victorious in a tightly-contested first round football qualifier against Fermanagh.

Paddy O'Rourke's Mourne men dumped last year's surprise All-Ireland semi-finalists out of the 2005 race as five players saw red in a fiery battle.

While Down ended the first half without the services of championship debutant Paul Murphy, who was dismissed by referee Mick McGrath for a second yellow card at the death, they still led 0-8 to 0-4 at the interval.

Benny Coulter was their scorer-in-chief - he supplied four of their tally with Mourne captain Liam Doyle also firing over from range.

Fermanagh looked off-the-boil and in failing to gain fully from their one-man advantage, they also succumbed to referee McGrath's red card fever as Ryan McCluskey was sent to the sideline on 52 minutes for an off-the-ball altercation with Conor Laverty.

Seven minutes later, Down substitute Dan Gordon walked for a foul on Marty McGrath and it seemed the scoring would take a back seat as the playing numbers began to dwindle.

Down made certain of their passage through to the second round right at the end of normal time - substitute Ronan Sexton ghosted through to net from Ronan Murtagh's well-timed pass.

The goal sparked friction on the field and referee McGrath produced his red card two more times as a disappointing end to one of the top-billed qualifiers saw Down skipper Doyle sent-off for a second bookable offence - a foul on Shane McCabe - while Fermanagh's Stephen Maguire walked for his part in a goalmouth scuffle.