Division Two has the look of a minefield with every team capable of beating any other and with Tier Two also in play, Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin is expecting it to be nothing less than a battle over the remaining five games.

Ricey saw his side bounce back from an opening day defeat to Kildare by producing a fine comeback to beat Roscommon in Brewster Park on Sunday and he will be looking for them to maintain that second half display.

“It was always going to be a dog fight, nobody wants to play Tier Two football, everyone wants to play Tier One and I think we showed we maybe can play Tier One but it is going to go down to our attitude for the last five games,” he stated.

And it was that attitude that he mentioned that Fermanagh showed in spadefuls in the second half against Roscommon after a poor first 35 minutes left them six points adrift of the visitors.

“It is like anything in life, if you have a poor attitude you are not going to get anywhere. I told the boys a story on Friday night which Art McRory told me. He said ‘football is like a bus, you have to put your hand up if you want to get on it and if you don’t it will drive on past you.’ I reminded them at half time that the bus was maybe driving on past them.

“Look, attitude is massive in anything and the boys did it. I’m very happy too with the subs that came in, they did fantastic too.

“We also had a lot of young boys in there and they are going to make mistakes and you have to give them a chance to grow and they have to be playing games,” he explained.

The first half though was one that McMenamin felt his side showed too much respect to their opponents.

“We were very passive and going through the motions and we said that to the players at half time and they took ownership of it.

“There was no changes in the set up, we just did the same thing but we had to make it a battle, when you play Gaelic Football it is a battle, it’s you against the other man and I thought we probably showed that Roscommon team far too much respect.

“They showed why they are Connacht champions in the first half, they kept the ball really well but we have a young team with a lot of pace in around it but I don’t think we showed enough in the first half but in the second half we did. I’m happy to get the point, but I put it all down the players,” he stated.

Conall Jones played a big part in Fermanagh’s second half revival, landing six points after the break following a quiet first period.

“Conall had a quiet first half and he knows what sort of footballer he is. It is attitude again, he can’t sit back and wait for it to happen, the first half everyone was sitting back waiting to see what would happen as if it was magically going to appear. Second half they were totally different players.

“In my opinion, they are as good as anything that is out there but Fermanagh people have an awful thing of underselling themselves. We are happy to see that (performance) to see what they can do but it is still the first week in February.”

And another to have really caught the eye was Ciaran Corrigan who hit three points including the winner. McMenamin was delighted for the Maguiresbridge man who had been guilty of missing a good goal chance seven days earlier.

“Bam-Bam deserves it because he missed a bad chance last Sunday and I’ve been slagging him about it and he doesn’t like to be reminded about it. It shows his character though, he learnt from it and he scored the winner today. He puts it in and he is a fantastically smart footballer. He is the modern footballer, he can play anywhere, he can play 7, 10, 14. We’re glad to have him,” he added.

McMenamin took over the reins as manager ahead of this season having served the previous two years as Rory Gallagher’s assistant. Sunday was his first win and it is clear that he is putting his own stamp on the team.

“The boys know I like to kick and I like to play on the front foot and I think that second half proved that.

“In the first half we were retreating to the 45 and if you want to play Gaelic Football you have to play it on out the field and it meant that we didn’t really get our kicking game into motion. Once we made the battle field on up the pitch we were happy enough but again it is the attitude of the players.”

McMenamin handed first league starts to Belcoo’s Eoin Shiels and Tempo’s Lorcan McStravick and a youthful bench will be further supplemented when Fermanagh’s U20 Championship finishes.

“It is a young bench and we also have a couple of U20s. We have Brandon Horan, Sean Cassidy and Callum Jones.

“For me you have to start somewhere as a county footballer and if you wait for all the old boys I wouldn’t have got my chance. You always have to think of the future,” he said.

The more immediate future though is a trip to Mullingar on Sunday and a meeting against a Westmeath side who will be keen to find a response after losing to Cavan last Sunday.

“I seen them last night and they are a very good team. They are going to be disappointed throwing away a five point lead against Cavan,” commented Ricey.