Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath could not hide his delighted at his side’s battling second half performance as they fired over two points in added on time to snatch a draw against Galway in Tuam on Sunday.
However, his focus was quickly switching to next week’s crunch encounter against table-toppers Tyrone in Brewster Park with relegation matters still up in the air going into the final round of fixtures.
With Armagh taking a point against Tyrone on Saturday night and Meath claiming a point against Derry on Sunday, the point that Fermanagh earned in Tuam could prove to be crucial and McGrath stresses that it keeps Fermanagh’s destiny in their own hands.
“You look at the table and the fixtures next week and there is still all kinds of things that can happen but we always knew that this was going to be a very, very tight, competitive league. There is a lot of good teams in it and the fact that it is going down to the last set of games and still a number of teams can be relegated shows how tight it is. 
“It is up to us to get ready for Tyrone and to ensure that we get another performance like that in terms of character and energy and lets see where that takes us,” he commented.
McGrath could not fault the desire, application and character of the side on Sunday as they dug deep after having Niall Cassidy sent off six minutes into the second half. 
At that stage Fermanagh looked in big trouble with the resultant free from the incident that led to Cassidy’s dismissal putting Galway three ahead. Fermanagh though enjoyed the better of things over the remainder of the game and the draw was nothing less than they deserved by the end.
“I’m very proud of the players, particularly in the second half,” said McGrath.
“To go down to 14 men, playing into the breeze and against a Galway team that is laden with good footballers, the gun was firmly at our heads. In that second half the players showed great energy and the character. We would get to within a point of them or get level but then they would pull a point or clear and you were thinking this was not going to happen. 
“The players though refused to accept that, they kept believing and working for each other and the equalising point from Declan McCusker was a marvellous point. He had missed one from the same area earlier in the game but he took a marvellous point and it is a marvellous point for the team and it means that going into the last game our fate is firmly in our own hands.”
Fermanagh had struggled for long periods in the middle of the park on Sunday but when the game was in the melting pot both Eoin Donnelly and Ryan Jones stepped up to the plate and led the charge in the latter stages.
“There was a period in the middle of the second half when Galway were dominant in the middle of the field from kick outs and it took Eoin and Ryan  at different times to reset themselves and win us some invaluable ball at various times as they did in the last 10 or 12 minutes,” added McGrath.
And he praised the composure of his players under pressure as they clawed their way back for a share of the spoils.
“There was difficult conditions, the wind was blustery and the pitch is a heavy pitch so they had to show massive energy and massive resolve and under pressure a lot of composed play.  
“It would have been such a heartbreak if Galway had snatched it at the death,” he stated.