Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath acknowledged that his side were simply second best to Monaghan in the second half of Saturday night’s Ulster Championship opener in Clones.

McGrath’s side were competitive in the first half and were maybe unfortunate to have gone in two points behind. But the Farneymen gained the upper hand early in the second half as they produced a dominant display to secure a nine point victory in the end.

“In the second half we can have no complaints in the sense that they were quite significantly superior in their work rate, their physicality and their intensity,” he said.

“In the first half we more than matched them and during that half the game went exactly how we wanted it to go apart from conceding those two late points before half time. If we had gone in level it would have been a fairer reflection of the first half.

“In the second half we went out fully determined to get the first couple of scores, get our game up again but that didn’t happen and they just upped the intensity and ground out the vital scores. Their movement was good and we were on the back foot for long stretches of the second half.

“When we didn’t get the early scores and they did and the gap began to appear, and then it began to widen, it was going to be very difficult against an experienced team like that, a physically imposing team like that and a very well drilled team like that.”

Fermanagh had put in a big shift in the first half to keep themselves in contention but when players began to tire Fermanagh did not have the same options as Monaghan to spring from the bench. And McGrath admits that he does not have the squad strength or experience available to him on the bench that Monaghan could call on with their substitutes contributing five points to their tally and making a positive impact on the contest.

“They were able to take on experienced men and they injected energy and pace and we just don’t have those resources at the moment. I think the effort that our fellas but in in the first half maybe to an extent fatigued them for the second half because they really put in a massive effort up and down that field. Ideally you would then have men coming in ten minutes into the second half to keep that going and at this point in time we don’t have the resources to do that and that’s a fact of life,” he added.

Fermanagh now go into the draw for the All Ireland Qualifiers with Round One to be held next week. McGrath accepts that his players will be disappointed with Saturday’s second half performance but he hopes that spirits can be lifted and he is targeting a run through the backdoor.

“We are bitterly disappointed with the way the game finished given the work that was put in and given particularly the work that we put in during the first half.

“If you had looked at the first half you wouldn’t have thought it was going to be a nine point defeat so we will be disappointed but we’ve been here before, where we have put in good performances only to maybe falter and we just have to pick ourselves up and maybe get a decent draw in the Qualifiers and extend the summer as far as possible. That has to be the objective and if the boys have the energy then I have the energy to go at it that way,” he stated.