With six wins out of six at home, Fermanagh looking for seventh heaven against Antrim

Standing in the way of Fermanagh is an opponent they are familiar with as Antrim make the trip to Brewster Park for the second time in five weeks, and the third time in just over a year.

Of course, Fermanagh defeated Frank Fitzsimons outfit in the Ulster Championship quarter-final on May 31 although it was a tighter game than the eight point margin of victory would suggest with the Ernemen only pulling away in the latter stages of the encounter against the 14 men of Antrim.

And, the two sides enter this Sunday’s game from differing perspectives, Fermanagh will have to put the disappointment of the loss to the Farneymen behind them while Antrim will come to Enniskillen high in confidence after they produced a wonderful comeback to stun a fancied Laois side in Portlaoise.

Antrim made the journey to Portlaoise with few expecting them to return with the win. Indeed, three players, CJ McGourty, Kieran McGourty and Connor Burke were left out of the side after they played an important club hurling match the night before the game.

And there looked to be little chance of Antrim winning when they trailed 1-07 to 0-01 after 22 minutes. However, Chris Kerr saved a Ross Munnelly penalty early in the second half and boosted by this Antrim followed up with 1-04 on the bounce to drag themselves right back into contention.

Laois looked to have done enough when Donie Kingston points put them four in front with eight minutes to go but Antrim kept pressing and points from Benny Hasson and Michael Pollock cut the margin to only two before substitute Dermot McAleese fired to the net as the Saffrons went on to claim the victory.

A day later, Fermanagh were making their exit from the Ulster Championship although this too was a game where the scoreline did not tell the full story of the game. In the end, ten points divided Fermanagh and Monaghan but for about 60 minutes McGrath’s charges were right in the contest and the Fermanagh manager will be hoping to build on the positives from that performance and improve on areas that showed up as needing working on.

Certainly, the view from the Fermanagh camp after the Monaghan game was that they were determined to put a run together in the Qualifiers and McGrath stated last week that “it is essential for the progress of this squad that we do make a lot of ground in the Qualifiers this summer”.

There’s no doubt that Antrim will be tricky opponents though and they not only have momentum on their side but have all the motivation needed as they look to avenge the loss of five weeks ago at the same venue.

However, Fermanagh will feel that this is a tie that they can win and with the game at Brewster Park it is a good advantage for the Ernemen who have remained unbeaten on their home turf in 2015 with six wins out of six from the McKenna Cup, league and championship.

Antrim have suffered something of a blow since their victory in Portlaoise with Conor Burke, Patrick McBride and Paddy McAleer all leaving the squad, the trio opting to travel to America to play football in Boston for the summer.

CJ McGourty and Kieran McGourty though should return while midfielder Sean McVeigh is back after serving a one game suspension following his red card in the first game at Brewster Park. McVeigh had been an influential figure in the game when he was dismissed and his return to the side will be a boost for Fitzsimons.

Fermanagh too though are likely to be changed side on Sunday from the one that featured against Antrim on May 31. Captain Eoin Donnelly missed the Ulster Championship clash with the Saffrons due to a hand injury but he returned to action against Monaghan and produced a massive performance as Fermanagh dominated matters in the middle third of the pitch.

That game will have brought Donnelly on further and McGrath will be hoping that he can maintain his performance level against Antrim while Ruairi Corrigan got 20 minutes under his belt in the Ulster semi-final and he will be pushing for further game time on Sunday. Kinawley man Corrigan picked up a hamstring injury in the league final against Armagh and was forced off early in the Antrim game with a reccurence of that injury but he appeared to come through the last 20 minutes in Breffni Park unscathed which is a big plus for Fermanagh.

The availablility of Ryan McCluskey is less sure.

Fermanagh lodged an appeal of the red card he received against Monaghan, McGrath having described the sending off as “very harsh”, and they will be hoping that the ruling is in their favour because the Enniskillen man is a key player and his absence would leave a hole in terms of leadership and organisation at the back. McCluskey had also come off early in the first Antrim game after a bang on the knee and James McMahon dropped back to play the sweeper role with great aplomb. The Roslea defender though broke a bone in his wrist during that game and was ruled out of the Monaghan tie although may return for Sunday while McGrath could call on the experienced Damian Kelly to fill the role.

Neither side are going to offer anything that will surprise the opposition on Sunday and Fermanagh will feel that if they can get a performance then it would put them in a strong position to go on and win the game.

The defence and midfield performed well against Monaghan and McGrath will be hoping for more of the same from these areas but will need more from his side in an attacking sense.

Fermanagh struggled to make an impact once they got to the Monaghan 45 and a lot of Fermanagh scores came from distance, which is always welcome. However, they also need to be working the ball closer to goal into easier scoring positions for the likes of Sean Quigley and Tomás Corrigan and this will have been an area they will have worked on over the last week and a half.

Fermanagh bossed midfield against Monaghan and if they can do that on Sunday and then show greater incision in attack then there is every reason to think that their season will be stretched further into the summer.