Fermanagh and Derry meet again in the Ulster U20 Championship on Saturday, with Fermanagh hoping to exact some revenge on the three point defeat they suffered last year in the semi-final.

For Erne manager, Ollie Fay, the upcoming trip to Derry is going to be a tough task but he is confident that the preparation his players have put in gives them a great chance of defeating last year’s Ulster finalists.

“An away game against Derry isn’t an easy fixture but look it we’ve been working hard the last few weeks,” explains Fay.

“And we got a good bit of preparation in the Philly McGuinness competition and we worked on a few things that were going wrong for us and I think we are ready for this Saturday.

“And we are prepared as best we can to go up to Derry on Saturday and confident enough and we will go and have a bit of belief on ourselves.

“There is no point going there if we don’t feel we are capable of winning the game. So, we are going there to put in a good performance and hopefully the result will take care of itself.”

The Philly McGuinness Cup gave Fay and his management team to have a look at their squad and there were some encouraging performances throughout as they finished with a win, draw and loss.

Sean Cassidy led the line impressively and he was ably assisted by Callum Jones while captain Brandon Horan is an influential figure around the middle of the park.

“Brandon says very little but what he does on the pitch he takes the game and drives it on.

“He just has serious leadership qualities that all the players look up to. He has such a mature head he’s a brilliant captain and leader on the team.

“He evens helps us as management because he is an extension of the management out on the pitch and when things are going wrong, he doesn’t have to look to us for advice, he can take control himself.”

For Cassidy and Jones, Fay has been impressed by the commitment and development of the two players.

“I can see a real difference in the Sean Cassidy from 2019 until now he’s grown really as a player and he’s been exceptional for us in the Philly McGuinness competition he has taken ownership in games in difficult situations and grabbed the games by the scruff of the neck and leads the players over the line.

“Sean has been brilliant and the same as Callum.

“Callum has come on a lot as well in the last 12 months he is training really hard with the seniors and bringing that into the 20s which the other fellas are looking up to and driving on because of Callum’s attitude.”

Both teams will know plenty about each other, having met in last year’s competition and Fay knows that there will be very few surprises when the ball is thrown in on Saturday.

“You could cliché the hell out of this, but you need to dominate every position on the pitch. You are going out for everybody to win their battles and if you win your individual battles on the pitch and things pull together as a team you will be in a good position.

“We are going out basically concentrate on our own thing we always do we have great belief in ourselves and everyone is going to work extremely hard and then the result takes care of itself. Whoever outworks the other the result will go their way.”

And Fay is confident his side can overcome a difficult Derry challenge.

“We know there is a good core there and they are involved with the senior set up so they will bring serious quality and we will have to watch out for them guys.

“But we have the personnel to that, and we are pretty confident,” added the Fermanagh manager.