It wasn’t a bad way to bring up a 100th appearance in the green of Fermanagh for Ryan Jones as they overcame Kildare under the lights at Brewster Park on Saturday night to make it two draws and win from their opening three Division Two games.

For the Derrygonnelly man though personal plaudits can wait, it is all about the result.

“At the end of the day all I wanted was to get the result, how many games I’ve played wasn’t important. I suppose wee things like that are something that you will look back on but at the moment it is about keeping in the mix whether it is for promotion or staying in the division,” said the midfielder.

And he felt that the Ernemen produced a good performance on the night as they deservedly claimed the points on offer.

Fermanagh slipped to a heavy defeat to Kildare in the Qualifiers last summer so to turn that around was pleasing although Jones acknowledges that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“Six months ago Kildare put 3-20 on us, now I know that was only after the Ulster final and it was tough to get everyone lifted but to go from a team that put that on you to holding them to six points, we are obviously delighted with that.

“Also in terms of scoring we had plenty of opportunities on Saturday night but for one reason or another we didn’t take them although I think it will come and overall I thought the effort and the work rate was very good and I thought we battled well. When Kildare got the game back to six all it felt that they had a bit if momentum but we were able to ride the storm and kick on when it mattered,” he said.

Fermanagh’s tactics have come in for criticism but those who have watched recent games will see they are trying to implement an incisive counter attacking system and have created a lot of good scoring chances while keeping things tight at the back. Rory Gallagher’s side having the best defensive record in the division.

And Jones is bemused as to why a good defensive system is looked down on in GAA circles.

“It just seems in Gaelic football that if a team defends well it is frowned upon but it’s not in any other sport. If you look at soccer, a lot of those great Italian sides, they were great defensively and people respected that but when a team sets up defensive or tries to make it hard for the opposition to break down everyone is very negative about it.

“At the end of the day we feel that we must defend as a unit and then we must attack as a unit and everyone is involved in both sides of it. In a game like Gaelic football, the defending is just as important as the attacking and we feel it is a style that suits our game,” he added.

Fermanagh’s win on Saturday has them sitting second in the table but the tight nature of the division is evident in the fact that only one point separates the top six sides after three games.

“That was maybe expected before a ball was even kicked and there’s no doubt it will go down to the wire. One week you will be looking up and then maybe if you lose you will be looking over your shoulder at the relegation dog fight, that’s just the way of the division. From our perspective it is just about taking it one game at a time. We were delighted to get the result against Kildare but we will be re-focusing straight away to try and improve and get a performance in the next match against Donegal.”

Donegal lost last day out to Tipperary in Semple Stadium and Jones knows they will be looking for a response when the sides meet in Letterkenny in just over a week.

“They will be looking for a reaction and will be keen to prove that the Tipperary defeat was just a blip. We have obviously met Donegal a lot this last while and they gave us a trouncing in the Ulster final last year.

“It will be a step up from the Kildare game but we will get the head down, work hard and, as I say, we will try and get a performance,” he stated.