St. Michael’s coach Dom Corrigan is looking for “a big team performance” from his side as they bid to make it through to the MacRory Cup quarter-finals when they take on St. Pat’s, Cavan in a play-off in Derrygonnelly on Friday at 2.30pm.
St. Michael’s will be looking to extend their campaign into the last eight of the competition at least on Friday and have home advantage for the tie but Corrigan stresses that they are going to have to be at their best if they are to progress.
“It is going to be tough, Cavan are going to throw everything at us and we have to bring our A game to it on Friday so we will be looking for a big team performance. 
“Like every match we are going to have to be disciplined at the back, Cavan have very sharp forwards so defensively we have to be solid and we need a seriously strong platform in the middle of the field to ensure a supply of ball into our forward line who have great potential. However, MacRory Cup knockout football is all about how you perform on the day so these boys now have the opportunity on Friday to put their mark down as players of real note in this year’s competition,” he said.
In that respect, Corrigan will look to Liam Owens, Jack Love, Ryan Breen and Ronan Beattie to keep things tight at the back and he will be hoping that midfield pair Oisin Smyth and Brandon Horan can help give their side the upperhand in the middle of the park. And the key then will be getting scores on the board with captain Colm McNally, Conor Love and John Reihill all expected to chip in with scores.
What also pleases Corrigan about the current squad is the depth of talent that he has at his disposal and he acknowledges that a strong bench is essential in the game today.
“The good thing about our team this year is that we have good depth in the squad. We have 15 men that will start but we then have five or six men coming off the bench that I would be totally comfortable with and it is not every year that you can say that so that’s a huge plus. We would have a good bit of pace to add to it in the final 15 or 20 minutes and that’s important in the modern game,” he stated.
Corrigan also feels that the players and take great encouragement from the positivity that surrounds Fermanagh football at present.
“Fermanagh clubs have competed very well in Ulster. Derrygonnelly were very unlucky not to make the Ulster Club Senior final, Belnlaeck did well this year and Enniskillen Gaels had a massive achievement in Ulster in winning the minor title while we reached the final of the Rannafast Cup. You also have the county team motoring well under the stewardship of Rory so it is all positive and that positivity around the county is a great help and it adds value to the whole thing. We are looking to now put our stamp on it and put in a performance against Cavan,” added Dom.
Cavan too will come into the game with momentum with the school having won both the Corn na nÓg and Rannafast titles, beating St. Michael’s en route to both wins.
“Cavan are going very well, they had the better of us in the Rannafast final and they beat us in the quarter-final of the Corn na nÓg so we would like to get the win this time,” stated Corrigan.
And Dom is satisfied that his side have done the work that is required at this level.
“We always focus on ourselves and going into the knockout stage of the MacRory we would be full of confidence in that we know we have worked hard and that there is great belief in the squad. We have the work done but it is all about delivering on the day,” he said.