“It is a special, special win,” said a grinning Ryan Jones as he stood on the Healy Park pitch surrounded by droves of ecstatic Fermanagh supporters.
Jones had just played a key role as Fermanagh knocked out title favourites Monaghan to book their place in the Ulster final and he states that they knew that if they performed then they would have a chance of getting into a first provincial 
“We have trained hard and not too many would have given us a chance outside our own squad and our own backroom team but we came down here today determined to put in a performance and we knew if we got the performance to a certain level to what we are capable of then we would be there or thereabouts. 
“Obviously, there are certain aspects of our game where we need to improve, there is no doubt about that. Monaghan came tearing back at us in the end and I suppose to a lot of people it maybe looked like it was going away from us but Eoin got inside for the long ball tactic and at the end of the day things like that don’t happen by chance. 
“Rory had been instructing one of us to get inside and Eoin was fit to get inside, I seen him and I suppose we have been playing together for a long long time and I put it in the mixer and it was a Barry Owens style finish. We are just delighted to come out on the right side of it,” he said.
Prior to the goal, Monaghan had managed to edge two points ahead but Jones felt that they were rewarded for continuing to battle hard.
“Monaghan were coming at us and they were taking the game to us but we didn’t lie down. 
“I’m not going to lie, they had the momentum and it is twice as hard then to turn it but we kept chipping away and chipping away and that’s what you get, you get rewarded like that,” he said.
That reward is a place in the Ulster final against either Down or Donegal and Jones admits that it took every bit of energy they had to get over the line.
“It was a serious squad effort, it was energy sapping and I’m completely exhausted but the boys who have come off the bench have made a massive impact.
“Look what it means to the people of Fermanagh, we haven’t been there since 2008 and we’re absolutely delighted.”
The win over Monaghan has seen Fermanagh overcome another big hurdle but Jones knows that all games in the province are difficult.
“There is no game easy in Ulster, that’s the truth,.Armagh was a tough test and then we got the heads down for two weeks for Monaghan which was a serious test but that’s what Ulster is about, anybody on any given day can rattle anyone and we were confident within our own camp that we could do the business.”
The midfielder admits though that they have things to improve on if they are to go on and claim a maiden Ulster title on June 24.
“We have a lot of things to work on. We had a couple of turn overs at crucial times in the final third and they absolutely kill you because you have to get the whole way back and try and cover up again. 
“We are only through to a final and we need to get the heads down and improve for the next day,” he commented.
It is the stage though that this current group of Fermanagh players have been craving to play on and Jones says that this is what they have been working hard for.
“This is where you want to be, this is why you put on a Fermanagh jersey and you want to get to stages like this. 
“You work hard in November and December to get to places like this and I can’t wait. 
“There is serious competition and every man will be chomping at the bit,” he added.
And now they are in the final, Jones wants to go on and clinch that historic victory.
“Who wants to get to a final and not win it. 
“We have no doubt that it will be a serious test against Down or Donegal but we are there, that’s the main things and we’ll get back to work for it,” concluded the wholly committed Derrygonnelly Harps player.