It will be almost two months from the announcement of the postponement of the U17 competitions were announced in October to the day Fermanagh finally take on Down.

Fermanagh minors had been fine-tuning their skills and tactics in a wet and windy Garrison in preparation for their game with Down back in October, only for the competition to be cancelled a day later due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions.

Speaking back then, Fermanagh manager Maurice McLaughlin could not hide his frustrations at the announcement. But speaking to The Impartial Reporter this week following the announcement that his side will play Down on December 20 he is delighted for his players that they now have something to look forward to.

"We are absolutely delighted. From the previous announcement people would have felt my frustrations at the competition being called off," said McLaughlin.

"And myself and the rest of the management team are delighted to be back. But that pales into insignificance for the lads who are just delighted that they will be able to play in the ulster championship and to get their chance to show what they can do."

McLaughlin has praised the effort of his U17 panel throughout a year when at many stages it looked like there would have been no football played. But he says they stuck at it and even since the return to collective training there has been a good buzz about the group as they get set to face Down at the third time of asking.

"We have spoken about the history of the year and how difficult the year has been for everybody, not just alone us. But you know, now by virtue of the fact that we are back up and running we have something to aim for and the lads are buzzing since we came back in to training last week," he added.