Fermanagh Manager Ryan McMenamin was pleased with his side’s performance in their win over Cavan last Saturday, but he feels that they will have to raise their level again if they are to return from Owenbeg with the points this Saturday when they take on Derry.

The two sides won their opening games with former Fermanagh Manager Rory Gallagher’s Derry comfortably accounting for Longford on Saturday.

“It is going to be a tough battle, Derry may have felt that they would get out of Division Three last year, but they have found themselves there an extra year, and I think the talk in and around Derry is that they are in a very good place at the minute.

“Look, it is going to be a step up, Cavan was tough, and I think Derry is going to be another step up.

“Rory is more than happy with where he has the team at so it is going to be a tough battle for the boys,” said McMenamin.

And the Erne boss says that the players know themselves that they will have to improve from last Saturday.

“The players spoke about that after the game on Saturday night; they know themselves that they are going to have to step up, and that this is going to be a different challenge.

“It is an away game in Derry and the lads know that once everyone gets a good competitive game under their belt, that the quality is going to improve and your fitness is going to improve, so Derry are going to definitely improve, but hopefully we can match them.”

Derry hit 21 points last week so McMenamin rightly acknowledges that they will have to be tight defensively and limit the number of free kicks they give away within scoring range.

“We have to minimise what they score as much as possible and we also have to minimise the frees as they have great free takers. It just comes down to hard work and a real will to win.

“For both sides it will be about hard work. We need to show the same spirit that we showed against Cavan when we were down to14 players and then 13 players,” he added.

Derry Manager Gallagher had two years in charge of his native county, leading them to the Ulster final in 2018, but McMenamin doesn’t believe that his knowledge of the squad will have much bearing on Saturday.

“He would know us, but we would have a great knowledge of the Derry squad, and I think the two will cancel each other out.

“Rory will know players but he is two years away and I don’t know if he still keeps as close an eye on the team. It is a different squad and a new team from when Rory was here.”

Delighted

Fermanagh could not have asked for a better start to the season with their win over Cavan on Saturday, and it was a win that delighted McMenamin, with the impact of the bench particularly pleasing.

“I was pleased with the win and especially with it being the first game in the league.

“I was happy with all aspects – the lads who came off the bench all made a difference, whether small or big; Richie O’Callaghan won a vital break ball, Sean Cassidy showed well, Aidan Breen and Declan McCusker too – all boys came in and pushed really hard.

“It is maybe the first time in a while that we have had a bench that we were looking forward to using seven subs because we knew they were all capable of coming on and making an impact.”

He was also happy with the response when his side went down to 13 men with just under ten minutes to go as Ciaran Corrigan was black-carded.

“It is the last thing the lads wanted, to be down to 13 players, but it is a credit to what the lads did during the lockdown and how they have applied themselves since we have been back at training.

“We knew once Ciaran went off we had to control the game and it showed a maturity in the lads that we were able to do that and then pick off the scores. It shows that the fellas are learning,” he said.

Central to the derby win was the display of Sean Quigley. The Roslea man was not part of the squad last season, but hit nine points on Saturday as he marked his return in style.

“Sean is a very smart player and I would say that Rory is going to have a plan for him.

“Sean had one of those games but at the same time, he had a lot of support from the other players.

“At the end of the day Sean is one part of the squad and we are more than happy, and hopefully he can back it up with another performance on Saturday evening,” said the Erne Manager.

A new-look squad

McMenamin has put together a new-look squad after a disappointing end to last season and the emphasis is on pace and energy.

“It is the thing that we looked at last September; we knew we needed that in the team.

“Look, one win doesn’t make a season, but we were encouraged by what we saw. We wanted more pace and we definitely wanted more energy in the squad,” he said.

However, he stresses that there is little point in beating Cavan and then not showing up against Derry this week.

“We have to back it up; there is no point having a great performance against Cavan and then putting out a poor performance against Derry.”