Tipp game will tell us a lot about ourselves

McGrath watched Tipperary against Armagh in the first round of fixtures, a game that Tipp should have won before the Orchard County hit back late to snatch the victory, and they followed it up with a commanding win against Limerick last week.

“I saw Tipperary play Armagh last week and they were the better team and I think the next game against Tipp in three weeks time, that is going to be a real tester.

“We have four points on the board and we have a couple of hard weeks work ahead of us going into the Tipperary match and I’m looking forward to that. That game will tell us a lot about ourselves,” he said.

Following Sunday’s win over Sligo, Fermanagh currently sit on top of Division Three with Armagh the only other side to have won their opening two games. McGrath’s side were not as impressive against Sligo as they were the week previous in the win over Louth but McGrath believes that getting a win away from home is crucial in the league.

“I’m delighted with the victory. To win any away game in the National League is always a very creditable performance because home advantage does mean something in this competition. We were the better team although we probably made life a bit hard for ourselves. We just didn’t show the same energy levels or fluency that we showed against Louth but at critical times we got some very good scores and I thought generally we defended very well. Apart from one hairy moment in the second half we never looked like conceding a goal which is always good and we got scores at the right time to keep enough distance between us and them,” he commented.

Fermanagh were guilty of kicking five balls into the goalkeeper’s hands in the first half and McGrath admits it was something they addressed at half time.

“This is something we have spoken about with the players; they need to finish attacks, even if the ball goes wide. There is nothing worse than a ball into the goalkeepers hands because teams counter-attack very quickly and in fact in the first half the only danger we faced was when they counter-attacked after we had lost possession. This is something we talked about at half time and it wasn’t as prevalent in the second half.” Leading by two points at half time, Fermanagh did face early pressure in the second half from Sligo but McGrath felt that once they saw that out they never looked like losing the game.

“We knew Sligo would give it a go at some stage and they made a big effort in the first ten minutes of the second half and we were under a bit of pressure but once we got a couple of scores in that second half we never looked like losing the game provided we didn’t do anything stupid,” he commented.

The introduction of Conall Jones for the injured Richard O’Callaghan also paid dividends for Fermanagh with the Derrygonnelly man kicking two fine points to ensure Fermanagh kept their noses in front.

“Richard was feeling his groin and Conall came on and he made a couple of good catches and he scored two excellent points. Conall is the biggest man on our panel and he has got loads of ability and he just has to believe in himself a bit more and hopefully that will bring him on in that department,” stated McGrath.

And he also had praise for captain Eoin Donnelly.

“A friend of mine from Down was at the game against Louth and he said to me that your captain is the real deal and he certainly showed it here again. His leadership, his handling, his catching ability, his energy levels were exemplary and he drove the team on at critical stages.” Fermanagh have achieved their first goal of the season which was to go into the mini break with maximum points but McGrath stresses that there is plenty more work to be done.

“There is a three week gap and it is a case of getting a lot of work done on the training field and a couple of in-house matches so that all the players can show exactly where they are. I think over the next three weeks all teams will improve,” he said.