Fermanagh captain Eoin Donnelly feels that games like Sunday’s against Tyrone will give the Ernemen a good idea of what they can expect in Division Two this season.
The McKenna Cup semi-final saw all aspects of the game raised a level from Fermanagh’s three group encounters and although Pete McGrath’s side held their own for the first half, Tyrone lifted their game in the second half while the dismissal of the influential Donnelly ended any chance of a Fermanagh win. The Erne captain had been outstanding during the first half, following on from a big performance against Donegal last Wednesday night.
“We are going to be playing Tyrone later on the in the league and that showed us the sort of level that you need to be playing at, that higher intensity, and we need to get used to that before the league comes round. It can only be good for us to play at that level,” said the Coa O’Dwyers midfielder.
And he says that they need to learn from the mistakes that they made in Clones as Tyrone ruthlessly punished them in the second half.
“We know we had our chances in the game but when you make mistakes you know that you are going to get punished at that level and Division Two is going to be the same. You might have got away with making mistakes last year in Division Three but you won’t get away with them this year,” he added.
Donnelly picked up his second yellow card for a high challenge on Mattie Donnelly and he feels that he could have managed his game better, knowing he had already been booked. 
“Sunday was a harsh lesson. You need to learn manage your game if you are on a yellow card or in another sense if you are down to 14, you need to be able to manage that as a team as well,” he commented.
He does though feel that the McKenna Cup as a whole was a success for Fermanagh.
“The aim at the start of the competition is to get out of your group and get an extra game which we did. We would have liked to have gone all the way to the final, once you get to the semi-final you don’t want to lose, but unfortunately it didn’t work out for us. In saying that, some of the younger fellas came in and got game time and we were able to get boys experience and that is essentially the idea of the competition that you can get yourself up and running for the league. I think by the end of the McKenna Cup the management have a fair idea of what people are bringing to the table and hopefully we can now fine tune things over the next couple of weeks before the first game.”
Fermanagh have had a number of last season’s regulars unavailable to date but it is hoped that the bulk of them will be available for the opening game of the league against Damian Barton’s Derry in Owenbeg.
“You want as many of the boys as possible available although that is not always the way with injuries and suspension and it’s the idea of having a squad built up through the McKenna Cup and through last year, that you can call on those players. However, we would like to have everybody fit to pick from and give Pete a good headache to have in terms of selection.”
And Donnelly is in no doubt about the size of the challenge that Fermanagh will meet when they take on Derry although he feels that they are capable of getting a result.
“Derry have done well in the McKenna Cup so far, they are through to the final and building momentum towards the league. It is going to be a big test for us, they are coming down from Division One while we are coming up from Division Three. We are confident though that we can go there and get a result and get the league off to a good start.”