Football

Sean Quigley: Fermanagh's days of moral victories have to end

Fermanagh forward Sean Quigley is hopeful the Ernemen can start claiming the scalps of some top teams - and he hopes that will start on Sunday<br /> Picture by Seamus Loughran
Fermanagh forward Sean Quigley is hopeful the Ernemen can start claiming the scalps of some top teams - and he hopes that will start on Sunday
Picture by Seamus Loughran
Fermanagh forward Sean Quigley is hopeful the Ernemen can start claiming the scalps of some top teams - and he hopes that will start on Sunday
Picture by Seamus Loughran

Ulster Senior Football Championship

THE days of Fermanagh footballers taking pats on the back for moral victories are over as the Ernemen are hell-bent on taking the scalp of a top team, according to forward star Sean Quigley.

Beating Donegal on Sunday would be a decent place to start as Pete McGrath’s men set their sights on a historic first Ulster title.

Yet, despite the massive strides made in recent years, Fermanagh will travel to Ballybofey as huge underdogs – but Quigley is determined that Sunday won’t be another hard luck story.

“Over the years Fermanagh have had some top moral victories, getting beat by a point or two by these big teams, and down the years that would’ve been seen as a positive for Fermanagh,” said the Roslea forward.

“You go to the pub, get a pint bought for you, ‘well done’ – but you’re still out of the Ulster Championship.

“The mentality has changed towards Fermanagh football because we’re beginning to be seen as a force in the Ulster Championship, and teams are taking us a bit more seriously.

“There’s a lot of this team who have played for the last four or five years, lost in the Ulster Championship, played Division Four football, and one of the main things Pete has done is instil belief in us.

“He has us believing we can beat these teams and not get these moral victories any more.”

Quigley admits Fermanagh are more comfortable being cast in the role of underdog, having been strongly fancied to overcome Antrim last month’s preliminary round clash.

They will be back on familiar territory on Sunday, and Quigley says it is these kind of games that really get the blood pumping.

He added: “The Antrim game was a very tough game to play in because, no disrespect to Antrim, but we were expected to beat them.

“That’s not a situation we’re in too often in Championship football, so it was all about how we handled it, and we handled it fairly well apart from a 15 minute blip in the second half.

“We’re going into the Donegal game probably with the same attitude Antrim had, that we’re big underdogs in the bookies’ eyes. I heard we were 5/1 in some places, which is madness. We’re not 5/1 off Donegal in my opinion.

“We have built a lot over the last couple of years but ultimately, you can go so far, but you have to beat these teams eventually.

“If we want to win an Ulster title this year, we have to beat Donegal. That’s our goal – to win an Ulster Championship.”

Quigley is likely to come up against the experienced Eamon McGee on Sunday, as the Tir Chonaill men attempt to disprove the theory in some quarters that they have too many miles on the clock for another crack at the Sam Maguire.

The Erne forward certainly doesn’t buy into such talk, and is expecting a lively encounter with McGee at Mac Cumhaill Pairc.

“As long as he has plenty to chat about we can get through the 70 minutes and we don’t fall out, I’ll be happy enough,” laughed Quigley.

“It should make for a good battle. Eamon McGee, Neil McGee, whichever it is, they’re both top class footballers.

“The likes of Karl Lacey, the McGees – if there’s too many miles in their legs they can come a couple of miles down the road and we’ll take them.

“If people want to fall into that trap of saying Donegal are a done team and all that nonsense… the likes of them boys have been about a long time, they’re savage footballers, and I’m sure they’ll be perfectly fit for Sunday.

“I certainly don’t think they’re a done team, I know we’re not taking them as that. At the end of the day we’re Fermanagh - we can’t take anyone for granted.”