Fermanagh forward Ciaran Corrigan was delighted to see his side get their Division Three North campaign off to a winning start on Saturday as the Ernemen claimed a 0-15 to 0-14 victory over Cavan in Brewster Park.

Due to lockdown, the start of the league had to be pushed back from its usual start of the year slot, and Corrigan says it was just great to be back playing.

“It’s just great to be back – it was a long winter and we did a lot of work in the off season on our own, and it was tough work, and we really wanted a performance today,” he said.

“Cavan turned us over here in Brewster Park last year and it was the first game in the league, which has three massive challenges, and we wanted to put down a marker today against the Ulster champions and, thankfully, we did that.

“It was a very hard-fought win,” he added.

The Fermanagh squad has a youthful look to it, but none of the young players looked out of place at this level and Corrigan felt that they all impressed on the night.

“Before, at training sometimes, there are games going on and it is the over-22s versus the under-22s, they are that young, but they did great again today – Luke Flanagan, Josh Largo Elis, Brandon Horan came on, Conor Love started. It is brilliant to see them boys coming through – and what a shift they put in!”

This was a tight, closely fought contest with little between the sides and Corrigan was pleased with how Fermanagh dug in when things maybe weren’t going their way.

‘We dug in deep’

“It was an Ulster Championship match, it had that feel to it, and I felt there was some borderline decisions went against us, but we fought and we dug in deep and it could have went either way.

“We’re happy enough though to get the win, and the feet will remain on the ground, and we’ll look forward to a massive challenge now against Derry,” he commented.

The Derry game will see the squad reacquainted with former Manager Rory Gallagher, who is now over the Oak Leafs, and Corrigan says that they will work hard this week to prepare for that challenge.

“We just have to work hard this week at training, and there is no doubt that Rory’s team will be well prepared, and he will bring a bit of bite to it, but we have to focus on ourselves.

“We are delighted with that result today, and we’ll just enjoy it and look forward to another week’s training.”