It has been a frustrating few years for Eddie Courtney but the young Aghadrumsee sharp shooter is finding his feet at senior inter county level and has been one of the brightest sparks in the current league campaign.

Operating in the full forward line, both his movement off the ball, and ability on it have been to the fore as he has proved a handful for a number of top quality defences.

On Sunday he landed two points in Fermanagh’s impressive five point win over Clare as he continues to grow in confidence.

“It has been frustrating over the last few years. With injury and then trying to just get myself back into things. Last year was very tough at times but Pete told me to stick at it and this year I have got a bit of a run of games and it has made all the difference.”

Something else that has made the difference for Courtney this year has been the fitness level he has been able to reach and he believes the back room staff that Pete McGrath has with him have been doing a fantastic job with the whole squad; “I probably am fitter than I have ever been and that is all credit to Leon (Carters) and the boys for getting us into shape and I can definitely feel the benefit of it now. It is great getting that game time under the belt too. The more you play the more you get used to playing at this level and hopefully the more you can improve,” he stated.

The MacRory Cup winner was quick to point out that a place on the starting 15 can be precarious should a loss of form suddenly envelope a player; “First of all you have to earn your place, you can’t just expect anything handed to you. And then you just know there are three or four men who would love to get on and play in your position and any wee slip up at all and you lose your spot and its’s gone and it could be a long time before you get another chance at it.”

Turning his attention back to the league campaign to date Courtney says it has been a tough few weeks for the players: “That win was a long time coming, its been four or five weeks between breaks waiting for a win and if we hadn’t won we would have left ourselves under outrageous pressure so it was really important. Coming back from Cork and Kildare were difficult journeys and we just had to get back out there and try and get something from the game and thankfully we did,” he said before adding; “We had talked about making sure we were not going to be relying on other teams. If we win our next two games we are safe and that is it, so we know what we have to do.”

As Courtney concedes there was considerable pressure on the Fermanagh team on Sunday but the 23 year old forward contends that it never affected the team in terms of their preparation and that training after the Kildare defeat became even more intense as a result of the three defeats.

“Training was tough and every man stepped it up and there was serious intensity there. The whole squad just came together more and we were determined to get the win. We can look forward to the next few games now.”

On Sunday Clare came back into the game with a goal and a point inside a minute to cancel out a four point Fermanagh advantage and it looked like the momentum was swinging the way of the Munster men but the home side dug deep and the Aghadrumsee attacker explains that responding to adversity was something that the team had spoken about in the lead up to this game; “In previous games when other teams hit their purple patch we were not able to react. It happened against Galway and then again against Kildare and even with Cork. We lost our composure and focus so it was a big thing for us against Clare. Every team is going to hit their purple patch at some point but we said we had to stick to the system and stick to playing our own football and that worked on Sunday.”

Finally looking toward to the final two games, Courtney says it is imperative that Fermanagh get what they need to ensure survival in Division Two.

“Division Three is tough in its own way and we don’t want to be going back down there. We know that we need to be playing at the highest level we can. There was talk of promotion and we believe we are good enough for that but that’s gone now so we have to concentrate on staying in Division Two and that means winning these next two games.”

A clear and simple goal and one that should it be achieved would represent a fine end to the league.