Fermanagh Super Cup Junior manager Ally Irwin has paid tribute to his team, despite the youngsters only recording one draw from their Super Cup fixtures.
“I would not change a single player in that team,” said Ally, who led the side to one draw and four defeats. 
“I am still so happy and proud of the players. They got unlucky during the week and things didn’t go their way, and that’s the way football is sometimes. 
“The Super Cup is all about players going away and enjoying an experience, and they will learn from that experience. 
“I am delighted to have brought together such a nice, well-mannered group of young men.
“ I’m so proud of all of them and I am proud to say that I managed that team in the Super Cup.”
The Fermanagh side got off to a great start and took the lead against English League side Plymouth Argyle, but they were pegged back to record a draw on the opening day and a win remained elusive throughout the remainder of the week.
“We started off really, really strong with the one-all draw with Plymouth and we should have beaten them that day,” reckoned Ally. 
“An individual mistake cost us, and that was almost the story of the tournament for us. Individual mistakes. When I look back at it I am very frustrated for the players.
“At times we would play some very nice football and then we would make a mistake and they would nick a goal and all composure would go out of the window. 
“I always said that the only people who would beat us on the North coast would be ourselves and at the end of the day, the mistakes we made and the lack of composure on the ball is what cost us results. 
“The players now need to learn from that and limit those mistakes. They are never going to eradicate it completely because if no one make mistakes football would be a boring and no one would ever score. 
“Everyone makes mistakes, especially at the younger age groups, but the key is to learn from them and cut them out.”
Despite not grabbing the wins that the Junior team were looking for, Ally felt the team deserved more over the course of the tournament. 
“I was happy with the shift the players put in,” he said. 
“The day we played Antrim I didn’t think they were 3-0 better than us, and yet Antrim went on to win the tournament. 
“We then lost 5-1 to a Leeds team that was poor, and then lost 3-0 to a North Dublin side that was poor, but anyone that was there would tell you we played all the football that day. I am frustrated for them because they know themselves that based on the quality in that squad and based on what everyone proved they could do in the build-up and at times during the tournament, we should not have finished in last place. 
“The Premiers have done very well to win themselves a trophy but in my mind that should have been us as well. We drew with Plymouth who went on to finish ninth. 
“In the build-up we were beating teams like Tyrone, and they have gone on to finish fifth. 
“This was not a 20th placed team. My opinion is that we were a top ten team, but we beat ourselves over the week,” concluded the Fermanagh Junior manager.