As forceful a reply as a Quigley shove over the goal-line.
Fermanagh are out of the All-Ireland SFC but the memory of their quarter-final journey and celebrations at Croke Park, last Sunday, live on.
Players from the Maguire County received a warm applause from their fans following their eight-point loss to Dublin in the last eight.
The effervescence of that appreciation, after the final whistle, prompted former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness to criticise the county.
Citing a growing ‘culture of mediocrity’ within the game, McGuinness wrote, in his Irish Times column that he was “spooked” by what appeared to be scenes of celebration.
Fermanagh forward Sean Quigley, who’s body-check on Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton led to a goal in the second-half, has hit back at McGuinness.
He says that in now way were Fermanagh celebrating defeat. The fans, he states, were acknowledging their team’s highly encouraging year – promotion to Division 2 and reaching the last eight. Quigley remarked:
‘I guarantee you, if you’d predicted that at the start of the year to Jim McGuinness, he’d have laughed at you. So [criticism] is a wee bit patronising, coming from him.’
‘And the fact that he’s a Donegal man, he’s not 100 miles away from Fermanagh, it’s a bit disappointing really.’
There was also a sly dig at the fact Donegal, under McGuinness, lost by 16 points to Mayo in a 2013 All-Ireland quarter final and the lack of spirit his side demonstrated that day.
As for the goal that he forced, Quigley admitted that it should not have stood.
‘It was a mistake on [the referee’s] part, and maybe the umpire’s part,’ he commented.
[H/t: Irish Times]
