Fermanagh joint hurling manager, Sean Duffy has hit out at the fact his team were even taking part in a relegation/promotion play-off last weekend. 
Duffy believes the winners of the Lory Meagher, who this year was Louth, should automatically gain promotion and the bottom team in the Nicky Rackard should go down.
“That play-off shouldn’t even happen. If you win the Lory Meagher you should go up. We lost our Nicky Rackard championship matches and it’s nearly impossible to lift lads after that. Louth are Lory Meagher champions and the team who have just won the Lory Meagher nearly always win the play-off. We were going in on a bit of a downer whereas they were going into it on a high.”
Duffy had previously said Fermanagh wanted to stay in the Nicky Rackard competition but following Saturday’s heavy defeat, the Lisbellaw man says maybe playing Lory Meagher next season may not be a bad thing:
“Yes, we were disappointed of course to be going back to the Lory Meagher but maybe we are a Lory Meagher team. We are picking from one club and there was eight under-21s on that team. It might be a better level for some of them to be playing at, so that they can develop because they’re still young.”
With so many regular starters missing on Saturday afternoon in the Athletic Grounds in Armagh, Fermanagh were always going to be up against it. Duffy acknowledged it definitely hampered their chances;
“Louth were good and probably as good a side as we have met this year but we were short so many players. We’re a small county and when we lose one or two players, it seriously effects us.”
In the end Louth proved to be much too strong for Fermanagh and once they drifted ahead, thanks in no small part to Andrew Mackin, they were difficult to contain:
“He (Mackin) was definitely a thorn in our side. They just got a run on us. Hurling is not like football, you can be swamped in ten minutes and you can do a lot of harm in a short time and that’s what happened to us” says Duffy.
Fermanagh will have to put Saturday’s heavy defeat behind them though, as they regroup for Sunday’s Ulster ‘B’ Championship semi-final against Donegal. The Erne men will feel they can run the Tír Chonaill men a lot closer, having played them in the Nicky Rackard competition this year and only lost by four points.
“It’ll not be easy but at the same time we will have an influx of boys back” says Duffy. Fermanagh should be bolstered by the return of Declan McGarry, Mark Slevin, Brian McLaughlin and Daniel Teague. He goes on to add;
“It would be nice to finish and get a win and get to an Ulster final. It’s going to take a massive effort though but we know when we’re at full strength we are a different side. We’ll give it a lash and see” he concludes.