Fermanagh defender Barry Mulrone says that they will be keeping their feet firmly on the ground following Saturday evening’s win over Armagh at Brewster Park.
With a clash against Monaghan just over a week away, Mulrone stresses that they have plenty more work to do ahead of that clash with Malachy O’Rourke’s side.
“It was only a quarter-final, it was the first round of the championship and as good as it was to get that win we won’t be getting carried away. We will get straight back down to do it and we know we’ll have to look at how we can improve and get better to challenge Monaghan on June 3,” he said.
And he knows that the Farney are going to provide the sternest of challenges for Fermanagh as the sides do battle for a place in the Ulster final.
“Monaghan were really good and under Malachy over this last four or five years they have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with.
“They have a lot of experience in the likes of Hughes brothers, Vinny Corey and Conor McManus and then you have younger players coming through like Conor McCarthy, Jack McCarron and Ryan McAnespie so they are a quality outfit and we will have to have a plan for them. Rory and Ricey though will look after that, we will have our homework done and hopefully we can go out and give a good account of ourselves.
“We will be looking to work hard and prepare well over the next week and a half or so,” he said.
Mulrone was the only player who took to the field for Fermanagh on Saturday night who had tasted an Ulster victory over a team other than Antrim and he feels it is good to have that one put to bed.
“I think I was the only one who played who had won a game other than against Antrim in Ulster, I was involved against Cavan in 2010, and it was something that we would have been disappointed with. 
“We would have felt that even going back this last few years that we have had a fairly strong squad but for whatever reason we never got that win. It is great to get that monkey off our backs and it is a case of now getting prepared for Monaghan.”
While Armagh beat Fermanagh in the Division Three final, Mulrone felt that the Ernemen learnt plenty from the loss.
“It would have been great to have won the league final in Croke Park but I think that we learnt a lot from that game and that stood to us on Saturday night. We were quietly confident going into the game that we would get the job done. We expected to go out and get the win,” he added.
Much was made of Fermanagh’s defensive system and how Armagh struggled to make an impact against it but Mulrone also felt that they were good going forward on the night.
“Yes, we defended well and that side of our game was good, but I also thought that a lot of our attacking play was also good. 
“I felt we used the ball much better than we did in the league final although we probably should have put up a bigger score as we missed a few frees and took the wrong option at times. 
“However, it was a very professional job from start to finish, I thought we controlled the game well and we didn’t really let them get a foothold apart from maybe a ten minute spell in the second half whenever Grugan came on. We got back on top though after that and were able to see it through,” said the Devenish man. 
Mulrone produced another strong performance from the half back line as he drive forward and landed a good point as well as doing his defensive duties.
“I probably should have kicked another point in the first half. 
“Overall though I was happy enough, of course I would hope there is more to come but as long as I’m helping the team then I’m happy,” he concluded.