Fermanagh midfielder Ryan Jones felt that his side always had a degree of control as they sealed their place in the Ulster Championship semi-final with a 0-12 to 0-07 victory over Armagh at Brewster Park on Saturday night.
Jones was a central figure as he helped give Fermanagh a strong platform in the middle of the park and he also chipped in with two points from play as Rory Gallagher’s outfit deservedly progressed to the last four.
“We talked about trying to get our stamp on the game and always being in control.,” he said.
“We have played other Ulster Championship matches and I suppose they have been helter skelter and we never really felt we were in complete control but I thought there today we controlled it well.”
Fermanagh had played against the breeze in the first half but they managed to go in with a two point lead and Jones felt that left them well placed going into the second period.
“Even in the first half when we were against the breeze we were able to go in 0-06 to 0-04 up.
“A breeze is never going to win you a game but that was a very good position for us to be in and I felt we played smart football. 
“It might not have been prettiest but at the end of the day it is results that matter for us boys at this stage and we were able to go out and achieve that,” he stated.
The dismissal of Armagh midfielder Niall Grimley also played into Fermanagh hands although Jones acknowledged that there would have been parts of their performance that they would not have been happy about either.
“I felt we were in control even prior to the sending off and of course it is an advantage after that because you can drag the opposition around the place and find wee pockets of space and that’s what we done pretty well. 
“Look, there are bits and pieces that we will have to sit down and have a look at, we let them back into it at one stage when they scored two or three points in a row and made it maybe a wee bit tricky for ourselves but we rode that storm out well and we kicked on. It was a solid performance from us.”
Jones did feel that the hard work that the side have put in over the course of the season would stand to them when they faced the Orchard County.
“We trained really hard and prepared really well and I know that Armagh did as well but we were in  a positive frame of mind coming into this game and we knew the hard work would get us the result,” he said.
The Derrygonnelly man is at this stage a seasoned inter-county player but this was an important win for him as it was his first in Ulster against a team other than Antrim.
“I’m playing county football since 2010 but I didn’t play in the Ulster Championship win over Cavan, I played against Armagh in the Qualifiers that year. 
“The only team we have beaten in the Ulster Championship since then is Antrim so that was a massive result for us but we’ll get back down and at it again and try and kick on again,” he stated.