Looking back at the Clare game now, Fermanagh manager, Ryan McMenamin, says it is hard to be happy with the how things turned out despite his Covid hit side putting in a huge effort.

However, missed chances cost them in the end and means they will play Division Three football next season.

“We are probably happy with the performance but you are kind of repeating yourself all year in that we were kind of in control of the game and once chances came in, we didn’t capitalise enough on them,” said McMenamin.

“We had three or four one on ones and didn’t take them and look, at this level, you have to take them and at this level that’s been our downfall.

“It’s trying to take these scores and turning the easy chances into scoreable chances.

“We had enough chances even near the end of the game, even if we had tipped over a couple of points we would have been well in the game.

“When you look back and watch the video probably defensively we were good. There were a couple of things that we could have closed down maybe a couple of points.

“We were disappointed with the goal. It was very, very soft to give away and that put us on the backfoot.

“For the last two weeks that it has been, it was good to get back onto the field but you want to win when you go into those situations.”

Ricey was pleased with the contributions of debutants, Sean McNally, Luke Flanagan, Josh Largo-Elis and Daire O’Cathain.

“It’s great to see and I have said there is a batch of good young Fermanagh talent coming through and the three boys didn’t look out of place and we were lucky enough to get big Daire O’Cathain on and he got five or 10 minutes at the end and again everything looked good and he was aggressive on the ball.

“We were happy with the debutants but we were overall happy with the performance. It was probably when you look back at the video, you are looking at how much we let it slip away which makes it a wee bit more galling.”

Need to refocus for Laois

Fermanagh have to refocus with a final league game at home to Laois to prepare for and the Fermanagh boss said it is another opportunity for players to stake a place in the team.

With most of the squad back out training, competition for places will be hotting up as the Ulster Championship draws ever closer and for McMenamin performances in training will go along way towards team selection.

“It’s all going to be on the training field and we want to give boys the chances that we thought played well at club football. We wanted to bring a few boys in and then we’ve probably went on what was our strongest team going by training and the boys put in a shift.

“It’s all on the training field and I have to be fair to the boys who are putting it in at training and showing up and I don’t think now we can go on reputations or names even though Fermanagh might have a smaller pick than everyone else.

“We cant delve back on what a fella did two or three years ago and that’s his way on to the team and I think I have to be fair all the time. We will try to put out our best team that we can for preparation for Down but we are going to try and win this Laois game as well,” added McMenamin.