Fermanagh hurlers maintained Division 3A status on Sunday afternoon with a great win over neighbours Monaghan, on their home patch in Clones. It was important the Erne men got the win and determined their own fate, rather than looking for other results to go their way.

After a drubbing at the hands of Roscommon the previous week, it was essential that the Fermanagh men got back to winning ways. They can now look forward to the Lory Meagher, having secured three wins against Louth, Longford and the Farney men, over the course of the league campaign.

Fermanagh Joint Manager, Seamus McCusker, admitted the result was their main focus, on Sunday: “The result was the important thing. It was a dogged performance, away from home. They (Monaghan) are hard to beat in Monaghan and they beat Roscommon, so we knew we were up against a good side. We worked hard and there were several leaders all over the park. Our captain Mark Slevin and vice-captain Eoin Mahon had good games, as well as Declan McGarry and Ciaran Corrigan, who made his debut up front and scored 1-02.” Maintaining 3A status was their aim from the outset, finishing third was an added bonus.

“We’ve a smaller player base to choose from. The main thing is we’ve stayed up. We actually done better than we thought we’d do. We got two wins away from home and the only two teams to beat us were Donegal and Roscommon and they’re in the league final.” With five games under their belt since February 16th when they played Donegal, Seamus says they’ve made great strides: “There’s a big improvement in terms of commitment and they’re really playing as a team. I think if we played Donegal now, it would be a very different outcome.” However, with little over five weeks until their opening championship match, away to Warwickshire, there is plenty to work on, he says: “Like every team, we need to work on our fitness, that’s the key thing. If we can stay injury free, that will be a big thing.” The only long term injury Fermanagh have at the minute is to last year’s captain John Duffy. He is recovering from a cruciate ligament injury but is training away by himself, as well as with the team. Seamus says “hopefully all his hard work will pay off” and he’ll be back in contention come May 3.

Fermanagh and Warwickshire are two teams of similar standing. The last three times they’ve met under Seamus and Sean Duffy’s reign, Fermanagh have won once and drawn twice. The Lory Meagher Cup has been Fermanagh’s main goal and with the league now complete all eyes turn to the ‘big one’.

“Our focus all year has been the Lory Meagher. Last year, we had a poor year. This year, we want to take our chance,” says Seamus.

With challenge matches against Sligo and Tyrone scheduled for the next two weeks, Seamus is hopeful clubs will afford dual players a certain degree of leeway in terms of the training regime as they prepare to represent their county in the championship.