Fermanagh Senior Ladies manager, Jonny Garrity, is looking forward to running his eye over his new squad in the coming weeks as they prepare to begin their Division Four campaign this weekend.

Garrity and his backroom team have recently finalised their panel of players and now hope to get their competitive year off to a good start when they welcome Derry in the first game.

It has been a good pre-season for the squad according to Garrity, and he hopes that all the hard work will come to fruition.

"We have had a very good pre-season. There has been a lot of work done. It hasn’t been easy but the girls have done everything asked of them and I think at this point the hardest thing will be selecting a squad and selecting a team. There are a lot of players who deserve to be on the squad who won't make it and the same with the starting team but its been a really good pre-season all in all.

"It’s trial and error to a certain degree at this stage but in terms of the quality we have got in at this stage we are absolutely delighted. We are really, really happy with the squad."

Garrity's first time in charge of an inter-county set up has been an enjoyable experience for the Fintona man, and he hopes the positive feeling will continue on Sunday when they face Derry, who he believes are one of the top teams in the division.

"I watched Derry in the last game of last season, the All-Ireland semi-final and I felt that they left it behind them. They were good enough to win and good enough to get to an All-Ireland final. It's probably fair to say they will be looking to go one further this year. They are a talented team with couple of very good forwards. They are gong to be a real challenge but it's what we want. We want to be challenged, to be pushed and playing against the best the division has to offer and Derry will be among that group."

It can sometimes take a team a while to adapt to a new manager's style of play and Garrity will have a fair idea on Sunday if he has the players at his disposal to carry out his instructions on the field.

"We have got a gameplan in mind and within that we have personnel we know will be definitely involved and there's others we have to make a decision on but we will be shoring that up over the next couple of days.

"We expect it will be a competitive team and we would expect that given the style of play we are adopting that the bench will be very important as well. It will certainly be a whole squad effort on the day."

Garrity will look to the likes of captain Joanne Doonan, Danielle and Lisa Maguire, Maria Maguire and Roisin Gleeson to use their experience to help bring the newer faces up to the speed of intercounty football and make sure they remain as competitive as possible throughout the league.

"Players like that have been around the team for a few years are going to be key because there is a lot of new faces in there so that experience will be very important in bringing the new girls through and setting the standards all the girls have to adhere to. We believe in them and in their ability to lead the way.

"From my point of view we want to gain a very clear understanding of the group we are working with. We will be looking to give girls game time. We will be looking to see exactly what we are dealing with in terms of the players and their ability and how that works together within a team setting and after you want to be as competitive as you possibly could be so hopefully it will be seamless and we will go as far as possible."

Fermanagh take on Derry on Sunday, February 3 at 2pm in Derrygonnelly.