Fermanagh travelled to Limerick last week with nothing but the two points on their minds and Pete McGrath was delighted to see them get what they came for.

After back to back defeats to Longford and Roscommon, Fermanagh needed a win in the battle against relegation and McGrath watched as his players duly delivered, thumping Limerick by nine points. The preparations for the game were hit by the fall out at training that saw none of the three Quigley brothers available on Sunday but the rest of the squad remained focussed on claiming the points and McGrath felt that it was a professional performance from the side, especially in the first half as Fermanagh built up a sizeable nine point advantage.

“We came here to get a job done and from the moment we set foot on the bus in Enniskillen there was a focus about the players,” said McGrath after the game. “The weekend was really well organised, there was a real professionalism about it, and we got a really professional performance, particularly in the first half. In the second half it became a bit ragged but I think we eased home pretty comfortably over the last 15 or 20 minutes of that game. The ground work though was laid in the first half.” Fermanagh produced some superb football in the opening 35 minutes of the contest, landing a number of top quality scores, and in the second half they were able to see the game out which is something they weren’t able to do against Longford and Roscommon after building up leads.

“I think there was a work rate and a purpose about the team and certain players really stepped up to the mark, especially, as I say, in the first half. We went in at half time nine ahead and we knew at half time that if we didn’t do anything rash and kept the work rate reasonably high we would win the game. We were always able to keep them at arms length and any time they did pose any kind of threat we were able to respond immediately and get good scores,” he said.

In their previous outing against Wexford, Limerick scored heavily from free kicks, so McGrath was keen not to see his side concede scoreable frees and he states that it took a high work rate to implement this.

“We played with a lot of energy and there was good tackling and a lot of pressure put on Limerick. We knew we had to do this because in their last game, Limerick relied heavily on free kicks. We knew if we could pressurise them and not give away free kicks but force them to shoot under duress then that would keep their score down. That required a high work rate from everyone and we got that,” said McGrath.

At the other end Fermanagh relied on the sharp shooting of Tomas Corrigan who took on the scoring mantle with an excellent ten point haul that included five points from play. And there was a good spread of scorers with three defenders as well as both midfielders chipping in with scores, something McGrath feels is a necessity in the modern game. However, he believes that you also need a couple of forwards who are capable of racking up scores on any given occasion.

“That’s the modern game. If you look at any scoresheet now you will see that the half backs, corner backs and midfielders are scoring. The game is now a very mobile game, a very fluid game were half backs are coming through so you need half backs who are capable of creating and taking opportunities and we are very lucky that we have that. It was a good spread of scorers and you would have to mention Tomas Corrigan getting ten points, it was a fine individual performance by him. You need two or three forwards in the sextet who you can rely on to get you regular scores on a very regular basis. If you have forwards like that who can get you regular scores then you wouldn’t be too far away.” The win now sets Fermanagh up for their final two games against Wexford and Offaly and McGrath is seeking to finish the league campaign on a high, the Fermanagh manager also confirming that two time All Star Barry Owens has returned to the squad.

“After two losses to Roscommon and Longford it is good to get a comprehensive victory and we can look forward to the two home games which hopefully we can win and insure that relegation is not going to be any kind of threat.

“I have been saying for weeks that I feel there is the makings of a very good team here and we have Barry Owens back training and he could maybe get some game time against Wexford in a couple of weeks time.”