Pete McGrath feels that his side need to find a ‘clinical mentality’ if they are to regularly beat the better teams in the country.

It may only have been the McKenna Cup and the opening week of the inter-county season but McGrath was left frustrated once again by missed chances as his team slipped to a one point defeat to Malachy O’Rourke’s Farney outfit in Clones on Sunday.

“It was another one of those games that you look back on and say there’s another one that got away against so called bigger opposition, it is definitely a source of annoyance.

“A lot of the things on Sunday pleased us; the effort of the team and the character of the team but the number of scoring opportunities that were spurned was disappointing and when these things keep repeating themselves from one season to another it can become very frustrating.

“If we are ever going to beat good teams on a regular basis, which we are capable of doing, then taking a much greater percentage of our scoring opportunities is one of the things we will have to do.

“It’s about being clinical and about having that razor sharp mentality. I think it’s about mentality. A lot of the other stuff; our defensive play was generally very good, we had a lot of good approach play and we had a lot of players putting in a lot of hard graft it’s just this clinical mentality about finishing that we have to develop and get players to think very seriously about,” he said.

The key period in the game came in the closing minutes of the first half when Monaghan hit three quick fire points after Fermanagh had rallied to level proceedings.

“There were two or three minutes to go in the first half and it was level and Paul McCusker had the opportunity for a goal but the chance wasn’t taken and two or three minutes later you are three points down. We won the second half by two points but that spell before half time was what the game hinged on,” he added.

Fermanagh lost full back Tiarnan Daly to injury in the first half but McGrath is confident that it is nothing serious.

“Tiernan felt a twinge on his hamstring. It’s not too serious, the chances are he won’t play next Sunday but I don’t think there is anything long term,” said the Fermanagh manager.

It was also the first competitive game involving Fermanagh with ‘the mark’ in operation although McGrath didn’t think it had any major influence on the game.

“It went almost unnoticed and didn’t have any bearing in our game in the sense that both teams made a couple of high catches and the referee blew and the person in possession kicked the ball or took his four steps. It didn’t in any way increase the number of high fielding incidents but it might just take time to bed in and for teams to figure out how to best utilise it,” commented McGrath.

Next up for Fermanagh is a meeting against St. Mary’s followed by Antrim next Wednesday night, and McGrath is eager to give all the players in the squad a chance to impress during the competition.

“We said to our squad that we want to give everyone a start over the course of the three games. In one sense we looked at the Monaghan game and felt that it could potentially be the toughest of the three and that’s why we put out a team with a sprinkling of experienced men throughout the team. We have to give people their opportunity and you look at the Monaghan game and Cian McManus played very well at corner back and Eddie Courtney I felt was very lively while Ryan Hyde put in a very useful shift for his first game. There are other people in the squad who deserve that opportunity from starting positions.

“Obviously, after the McKenna Cup you are into the cut and thrust of the league and it’s a more important business so if people are going to be given an opportunity then the McKenna Cup has to be the arena for that to happen,” he said.

However, he also wants to put victories on the board and says that they will be aiming to wrap up the group stages with two wins.

“It is important that we put in another big performance and that has to be supplemented by taking a higher percentage of our scoring opportunities and to perform to win, that has to be the objective.

“You wouldn’t like to be going into the start of the league without having won a game in the McKenna Cup. We have two games left and if we get good results we could still qualify as a runner up so that has to be the target.”