"The end, glorification of splendid underdogs is nothing other than glorification of the splendid system that makes them so.  - Theodor Adorno

When ‘experts’ talk about Fermanagh there are few phrases that grate with me more than: ‘punching above their weight’. It is most often wheeled out after an unexpected win, is usually coupled with a patronising tone and perhaps a broad smile, and uttered by some pundit or other who wouldn’t know a Jones from a Quigley. 
Unfortunately, it has seeped into our own psyche too. I hear it used all the time. Like a badge of honour almost. It is a little pathetic. You see the thing is, at inter county level, the GAA is unfair. It has always been unfair. In fact it was destined to be unfair long before the GAA was born. The county boundaries drawn up post Norman invasion left us Fermanagh folk with a very small patch to call our own. Beautiful, but small. Those pesky Normans. 
But so what? Why complain? Sure we can’t control it and we certainly wouldn’t want to change it. And it’s not like the Normans are all to blame either. The lads up in Croke Park haven’t exactly made things easy recently. The stunningly unbalanced distribution of funds is getting to the point of being grotesque. There is a pie alright, but we don’t get a slice. A few crumbs perhaps. 
Even when we put together nice forward thinking plans and ask for a smidgen more funds to help us implement them we are chased away quicker than poor Oliver when he dared to say, ‘Please sir, I want some more.’
Over time the Super Eights threaten to exacerbate the problem. Those annual participants getting more and more leverage to widen the gap each year. 
But so what? Let’s just get on with it. Let’s look after our own little patch and go from there. 
To quote motivational speaker, Eric Thomas: “Think big, dream big but start small. Start where you are, with what you have, because what you have is plenty.”
And we have plenty. 
We have the Cullen twins, discernible to the casual acquaintance by Lee’s wispier hairline. Indiscernible to their opponents who must think they are seeing double. Perhaps they are. Belnaleck means place of the Flagstones apparently. There must have been some granite left over to mould the two lads. 
We have Eoin Donnelly. The Coa man should get a sainthood for all the press interviews he has been put forward for over the past number of years. Always courteous, patient and helpful to a scrambling hack. On the pitch he is stoic and unflappable. He should get a second sainthood for the hand of God in the semi final. 
We have Sean Quigley, who rumour has it swapped pizza for avocado and wheaten bread. His flair for the dramatic has remained though, as has his always underrated work ethic. 
We have Aidan Breen. Tempo’s finest. A few years ago his left foot would bring me out in a cold sweat of fear. And I was his manager. Now, that left peg is approaching the status of being cultured and well educated. Evidence of the work he puts in and his determination to make himself the best he can be. Fermanagh’s best player over the past four years.  
We have the Jones boys. Like Indian and his dad facing off against the 3rd Reich Ryan and Conal know the way to the promised land. Indy needed a leap of faith to find the Holy Grail. Our boys have the faith already. Let’s hope the Holy Grail follows too.  
We have the Corrigan brothers, from a dynastic family in Fermanagh football. Ruairi one of the few who can unlock a defence; Tomas well able to capitalise on that unlocking and a match winner to boot. 
And we have Seamie. Churchill wasn’t thinking of Russia at all when he spoke of a ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.’ He was looking far into the future and postulating on our Seamie. But as Rory Gallagher says, ‘we all love Seamie.’ A genius. 
We have Ciaran McBrien, he might be injured but his tweet to Arlene Foster might just provide the spark that lights the pellet that lights the fire under those folks up at Stormont to get back to work. Well, maybe we are being over optimistic now. 
But you get catch my drift. We have plenty. Sure, we won’t be favourites on Sunday but that doesn’t mean we have to embrace the underdogs tag. That shouldn’t me we have to hope Donegal have an off day and everything goes right for ourselves. 
Confidence is what we need to have. And not just in the team and the management but rather in the county as a whole. Stop using our size as a crutch to explain away our lack of success. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves.
Yes, from the outset the odds our stacked against us. Player pool, financial support from the top and all the rest but stop wearing it all as a badge of honour. Stop saying to ourselves, “Sure isn’t it great we have got this far.” Stop accepting second best. 
We are riding high at the moment. The confidence is great to see, but it must remain, regardless of the result on Sunday. Can we win? Of course we can. Can we play well and still lose? Yes. But that scenario shouldn’t send us into a tailspin of self pity. Let’s dispense of the plucky underdog tag. It does us a disservice. It limits us and halts our dreams. 


Time to take the baton

I remember meeting Peter McGinnity on Belmore Street in the summer of 2004. The All Ireland semi final was a few days away and inevitably the chat turned to football. 
Peter explained how he was glad the mantle was being passed. He was referring to the 1982 Ulster Championship final team. It was great he said how people were now talking about a new Fermanagh team. A team who had reached the last four in Ireland. 
It is nice to chat people about past glories. It really is. People say to me all the time. ‘2004 was a brillaint year’. And it was. So was 2003 and 2008. 
It will be something else to see them all eclipsed. It will be nice when the mantle is passed. It will be glorious when we are Ulster Champions.