Fermanagh did not go sleep walking into a second half ambush against Derry in their first national league game at the weekend. 
Ahead by a point at the break the Erne men had played well and arguably should have been further ahead. The second half was a different matter however with Derry hitting 1-02 in 90 seconds to steal the momentum and they went on to dominate for the remainder of the game to secure the win. 
According to Fermanagh’s centre half forward, Ruairi Corrigan, the team were well aware of the pitfalls that Division Two football presented;
“We knew that we would have to be more consistent than we were in Division Three and that some of the things that we got away with last year we wouldn’t get away with this year and we saw the difference on Sunday. You just can’t afford to switch off and we did,” Corrigan said.
The Kinawley man went on to explain that he and his teammates entered the Derry game with a firm belief that they would get the win;
“We played well for parts of the first half and we were confident going there that we could get the win before the game and we were in a good position at half time but we just didn’t keep playing and you just can’t afford that.”
Corrigan, who was playing his first game of the season, landed 1-01 in the first half at Celtic Park and revealed that he was glad to be back in the green jersey of his county;
“I’m delighted to be back. It took a little longer to get the hamstring injury cleared up and then I was out with the college but it is nice to be back out there again and playing.”
Corrigan showed his importance to the Fermanagh cause against Derry and he will be pivotal to his teams chances as the season progresses.
Derry away from home was a tough baptism to life in Division Two for many of this Fermanagh team. The Erne men haven’t played in division two since 2009. Derry meanwhile were relegated from Division One last season along with Tyrone and they look like a team hell bent on returning next season with Corrigan believing the appointment of Damian Barton to the hot seat also gave them a boost.
“They have a new manager and that always brings something extra and they are also a very good team. They probably should have beaten Tyrone in the McKenna Cup final so they are a team who are in good form but we still should have been better. There are going to be no easy games and we have to make sure we bounce back now.”
This Sunday Fermanagh welcome Meath to Brewster Park and the Royals represent another daunting challenge. They opened their campaign with a comfortable five point home win against Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh and Corrigan knows that he and his team-mates are in for a major battle; “Meath have been knocking on the door for promotion for a few years now and they are a very good side and they had what looked like a straight forward win over a good Armagh team so they will be confident coming to play us and we just have to learn from last week.”
The primary lesson that Corrigan says Fermanagh need to learn is the ability to perform at a more consistent level throughout the game.
“We just can’t switch off. We got away with it before but we won’t now. We have to play for the whole game and make sure we concentrate for the whole 70 minutes. If we do that then we can compete with anyone.”
The league enters a two week break after Sunday and it can be a long wait for a team at the foot of the table. Corrigan asserts that it is vital that Fermanagh take something from this game with Meath:
“You don’t want to fall behind. The break is coming and you want to have some momentum going into that. Sitting on no points is not a good place to be and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen to us. Sunday is a massive game for us and we have to make sure we are ready for it and just learn from last week and be better.”
Another defeat for Pete McGrath’s men would leave the pressure on for the rest of the league campaign. A win however puts them right back in the mix and on the evidence of their first 40 minutes at Celtic Park last week Fermanagh are certainly good enough to compete against anyone in division two. Their challenge on Sunday will be sustaining that level of performance for a longer period of time. They will have to.