Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin is expecting another tough encounter for his side this Sunday when they host Roscommon at Brewster Park.

The Ernemen began their league campaign with defeat to Kildare in Newbridge last Sunday but it was an encouraging display and one that McMenamin hopes to build on.

“As a management team we were more than happy with the performance and we were happy that the boys took on what we wanted. The style of play maybe surprised a few people but it is a building process and we know that there is a lot more in the boys and hopefully we can get it out of them over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Next up is the Rossies and McMenamin believes that they will be keen to bounce back after their draw with Laois last week.

“It’s as tough a start that you could have got with Kildare followed by Roscommon who are the Connacht champions. They will come with a bit of a point to prove after throwing away a six point lead in injury time last week and we are well aware of the task at hand.

“They are a quality outfit so we know what is ahead of us and we will try to meet it head on,” he stressed.

Fermanagh will have home advantage for the game and they haven’t lost a home league game in over two years. Ricey though stresses that home advantage only counts if the attitude of the players is right.

“It is good to have it at home although that advantage is only as good as players attitude. If they don’t have the right attitude it is not worth that much but at the minute we are getting a really good attitude from them.

“Hopefully we will also get a good Fermanagh support behind the team and if we can get two points on the board it means we can start looking up the league,” he added.

The Fermanagh manager reports no injury concerns coming out of the Kildare match and instead is hoping to clear up those injuries that they currently have in the squad.

“We have been very lucky with injuries and that is down to Leon and the medical team and hopefully we can get a few more of the injured players like Tomás Corrigan back motoring again.

“It was also good to get Kane Connor on the pitch for 10 minutes on Sunday,” he commented.

Looking back at last week’s game, McMenamin was disappointed to have returned empty handed.

“We played really, really well against probably the favourites for the league. For long periods we were the better team and played the better football.

“We are bitterly disappointed that we didn’t get the win but you just dust yourself off and prepare for Roscommon,” he said.

Having had the chance to look back at the game he also felt that the defending for the two goals that they gave away was as much to blame as the goal chances that they missed on the day.

“We missed two big opportunities for goals but looking back at the video we conceded two very, very bad goals. It is easy enough to point the finger of blame at the boys for not taking their chances but at the other end we weren’t clinical enough at the back for the two goals.”