Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath has described this Sunday’s league clash with Meath at Brewster Park as “a must win” game as his side look to bounce back from the disappointing defeat to Derry in Celtic Park last week.
Fermanagh had been the better team in the opening half against Damian Barton’s Oak Leaf outfit on Sunday but they were second best all over the pitch after the break as Derry eventually ran out nine point victors.
And McGrath states that it is vital that Fermanagh go into the break in the league by putting points on the board this Sunday against the Royals.
“Sunday’s game against Meath is a must win game as to go into the break with no points on the board would be very disappointing and you wouldn’t be in a very good place. The fact is that if we win on Sunday then suddenly the table looks an awful lot healthier. It is a critical game but I’m quite confident that the players and management will rise to the occasion and get the job done,” he said.
The Fermanagh boss is expecting a tough, physical encounter against Mick O’Dowd’s side.
“My experiences of playing Meath in years gone by is that you will always get physicality and a direct type of football. I would expect a stiff challenge. They will be robust and they have some good forwards so they’ll be a threat but we have to look at what we have to bring to the game to get what we want and if we get that energy and that focus and get the character coming to the surface that we had so many times in the past then I will be confident,” he commented.
Fermanagh had made a good start in Celtic Park last Sunday but McGrath feels that they failed to capitalise on their superiority in the first half.
“In the first half we played very well but part of our problem was that too many times when we got into the Derry third of the field we were either turned over or we kicked the ball into the goalkeeper’s hands and that cost us scores at the other end as well as not getting the scores we should have got for ourselves. That was the disappointing thing in the first half, we went in a point ahead and we could have been going in six or seven ahead but the energy levels, the intensity and the defending in the first half were very good.”
He felt though that Derry’s greater physical attributes as well as their strength in depth was a telling factor in the second half.
“Derry are a particularly big team and it was question of us lacking that height and strength and Derry having it in abundance and at half time they were able to bring on players like Mark Lynch who is another big, physical player, they had that strength in depth,” said McGrath, who also thought that Derry’s second goal early in the second half was the killer blow.
“That goal was critical as it gave them the platform to go on. At that stage of any game if a team gets a major score they find new energy and find new belief. 
“Psychologically, we were in a bad place when they got that goal, and in fairness to Derry they saw that and they went for the throat and they got us on the ground and they kept us there. We can’t complain, we were soundly beaten in the end and I suppose our only regret would be that in that first half when we were the better team we didn’t capitalise on it and get the scores to have our superiority reflected on the scoreboard.”
Fermanagh struggled to get a footing in the game around the middle in the second half and McGrath admits that they missed the physical presence of the likes of Richard O’Callaghan who is currently injured while Ryan Jones was only able to play a half after making a return from injury.
“We sort of knew that Derry were going to bring a couple of big men on we thought that bringing Ryan on might counter that but his lack of match practice meant he couldn’t get into the game at all. A lot of what we were about last year was about the physical strength in the middle third with Richie O’Callaghan, Eoin Donnelly and Ryan Jones who are big men and who were all playing well and we just missed that on Sunday,” he added.
Having got a half under his belt Jones could see more game time this weekend while Niall Cassidy could also feature but the McCusker brothers, Paul and Declan are unavailable this week while O’Callaghan will not be back until after the break when McGrath also expects to have Marty O’Brien and Ryan McClsukey available too.
“Richard won’t be available this week, he will be targeting the first game after the break and we won’t have Declan or Paul McCusker, they are going to Australia for a couple of weeks which is something they had planned a couple of years ago. 
“Cass is a very strong possibility for this Sunday, he just wasn’t ready for last Sunday. Marty O’Brien won’t be that far away once we get beyond the break and Ryan McCluskey will be coming back around that time as well. You need all these men back as when they are missing we are just a bit shallow at this point in time in terms of the alternatives,” added McGrath.
It means that McGrath may be forced to throw some of his younger players into the fray against Meath.
“With the two McCuskers away that is two positions that have to filled straight away and both of those lads put in big shifts against Derry but I’m confident that whoever comes in will get the job done.
“Some of the younger players who were taken into the squad, maybe on Sunday some of them will be given the responsibility of putting in a shift and if that’s the case then lets see what they can do,” said the former Down manager.
McGrath also believes that players will be keen to put right the second half performance on Sunday.
“There are people who will be disappointed with their performances against Derry and I’m sure those players will rise to the occasion and put that game behind them,” he said.
And he says that it is crucial that Fermanagh sustain their performance for a longer period this week.
“We always knew this league was going to be testing and a league that was going to stretch us and Sunday stretched us beyond our breaking point. All we’ve got to do in the week ahead is make sure that our threshold of performance, individually and collectively, rises from what it was on Sunday. 
“We have to try and sustain the first half performance for as long as we can into the second half and hopefully then get men in who will give us the energy at the right time. Sunday is going to be a telling game and a game that could easily determine the shape of the rest of the season,” concluded the Fermanagh manager.