Fermanagh captain Eoin Donnelly says that he expects that Sunday’s game against Armagh will be another close one between the sides but he feels that if the Ernemen can produce the performance that they want then they have enough to get the win in the Athletic Grounds.

“We lost by a point last season there in the league and the game before that was a draw in the Athletic Grounds so both those games were very competitive and we know that we were well in them. We would believe that we have enough about us to go there and get a result and that is basically the mentality that we are going to go with on Sunday,” he said.

Donnelly struggled in the lead up to the Monaghan defeat with a hamstring injury but a five week gap between the Monaghan game and the Armagh tie has helped in Donnelly’s recovery.

“I had a bit of time after the Monaghan game so I have been able to get back into it and do a bit more and the more training you get behind you the better you feel about it,” he added.

And the five week gap has also been beneficial for Fermanagh in putting the disappointment of the Monaghan defeat behind them with Donnelly stressing that they are raring to get going again.

“There has been plenty of time to mull over the Monaghan loss and get over it. We’ve got back into training and got a few club games under our belts and we’re hungry to get going again. We’ve parked the Monaghan game and the focus is fully on Armagh and getting a performance on Sunday,” said the Coa O’Dwyers clubman.

The Fermanagh captain knows though that they have areas that they need to improve from the Monaghan game if they are to still be alive in this year’s championship come Sunday night and top of that list is to produce a sustained 70 minute performance.

“Most of the good stuff that we did was in the first half and in the second half was most of the stuff that we didn’t do so well. It is about trying to get a consistent performance for 70 minutes, that’s what we will be aiming for.

“Also we need to be able to react when teams change their game and give you something different to think about or when they up their intensity. We need to make sure that we are ready for all that.”

Armagh disappointed in their defeat to Down but Donnelly believes that they will have a point to prove on Sunday evening.

“They were probably expected to do a lot better than they did against Down and for whatever reason they didn’t but we are under no illusions that they will be a wounded animal with a point to prove on Sunday. However, we probably feel the same as well. Our second half performance against Monaghan wasn’t the strongest and we feel that we have more in us than we showed in the second half,” he commented.

And he hopes that this is the start of a summer of football for Fermanagh not the end.

“The Qualifiers are a confidence thing and you have seen it through then years that a couple of wins builds confidence. We’ll be hoping that it is just a start for us and that we can go on a run but to do that we know that we will have to produce a 70 minute performance on Sunday.”