Fermanagh’s chances of promotion and a shot at the All-Ireland qualifiers this year are all but over after a controversial draw in Mullingar yesterday against Westmeath.
Sean Quigley scored an equaliser to salvage a draw for the Erne side which means they cannot be relegated from Division Three.
However, minutes earlier, the Roslea man had fired over a brilliant point from play that would have taken Fermanagh two clear but it was waved wide by an unpire and none of the other officials spotted the obvious error.
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TV cameras at the ground back up the Fermanagh claim and manager Kieran Donnelly was booked for his protests at the time.
In a tight division, five teams - Louth, Limerick, Antrim, Westmeath and Fermanagh - are all in the hunt for promotion to Division 2, and so a guaranteed spot to play for Sam Maguire rather than the Tailteann Cup.
However, after taking just a point from the drawn game, Fermanagh now need to go to Limerick and win by a margin approaching 20 points and also hope that Antrim and Westmeath draw when they meet in Belfast.
The issue was raised on RTE’s League Sunday and pundit Pat Spillane admittted he had sympathy for the Ernesiders.
“We can all talk about human error but in this case there was the referee, the linesman and the two umpires looking at it,” Kerry great Spillane said.
“I feel sorry for Fermanagh, they have never won a provincial title. They play Tyrone in the [Ulster] preliminary [round] and the chances of them winning are probably slim against the All-Ireland champions. Their best chance of playing in the All-Ireland Championship this year is to get into Division Two.
“If they won today instead of drawing and then beat Limerick in their last game and get promoted, they would probably be in the last-16 for Sam Maguire.
“Because of that mistake, because of human error, they could be deprived of the chance of being in the last-16 teams in the country to play for the Sam Maguire. That’s wrong. It’s a shame that human error could cost the team that place.”
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