Football

Fermanagh ready to face the test of Faithful county

Fermanagh captain Caroline Little is concerned at the length of time the Erne county have went without playing football  
Fermanagh captain Caroline Little is concerned at the length of time the Erne county have went without playing football   Fermanagh captain Caroline Little is concerned at the length of time the Erne county have went without playing football   (Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE)

ULSTER intermediate champions Fermanagh begin their All-Ireland quest tomorrow at the quarter-final stages as they attempt to get back to All-Ireland finals day at Croke Park next month.

However, standing in the way of Aide Little’s side in Mullahoran (1.30pm) is Offaly, who will fancy their own chances against the Erne county and have gained a bit of momentum coming into this last eight clash with a wins over Longford in the earlier qualifying round.

Fermanagh, although slow to start in the Ulster final against Antrim, were impressive with captain Caroline Little leading by example.

They will be wary of affording Offaly the same opportunity, as the Faithful county have been making inroads the past couple of seasons following their All-Ireland junior title win in 2013.

They have already collected the Division Four title this year meaning that with Fermanagh’s relegation from the second tier, the two will be becoming more familiar with each other from next season in Division Three.

Despite a poor league campaign, that experience of playing two tiers above their opposition is crucial and it puts Fermanagh in the favourites’ seats as they close in on a second consecutive All-Ireland final.

While the favourites’ tag is something the Fermanagh boss accepts, he also knows that league and championship football can produce very different teams, performances and results.

“The only difference between Division Two and Division Four is that it gave us a good run against tough teams but that is league football and as we all know, championship is totally different so we will not be taking them lightly,” said the Lisnaskea man.

The long break, some four weeks, is some cause for concern for Little, particularly as Offaly have been back in action since their Leinster final defeat to Kildare, but as he says himself it has given the team time to work on a few things to up their performance from the Ulster final.

“It has been a long break between games but that is out of our control,” he said.

“Offaly would have had more meaningful games and will come into the game feeling confident and why not, but we have been training away and have had two challenge games and are ready.

“On the day we were happy with it [the Ulster final win over Antrim], but when we sat down to watch it, we were not as happy with our performance.

“But it showed up a few things and that was good for us, so we could work on them and try to put them right for the next game.”

The other quarter-final sees Leinster champions Kildare play Wexford in a repeat of their provincial semi-final (Crettyard, 1.30pm) to join Leitrim and championship favourites Waterford in the semi-finals.