Fermanagh Manager Joe Baldwin felt that his side showed improvement on Sunday as they followed up the draw with Cavan with a victory over Leitrim in Brewster Park.

However, Baldwin is adamant that there is room for further improvement as they prepare for a decisive game against Louth on June 6, where a win would see Fermanagh clinch the league title and promotion.

“We were definitely a lot better on Sunday, but we are by no means the finished article – we still have a lot of work to do,” said the Erne boss.

Discipline was an issue last week as Cavan continually punished Fermanagh from frees, but Baldwin was much happier with that side of things on Sunday.

“We only conceded four frees in the game and one technical free, so that is a massive plus for us.

“I don’t think there was a county team in the country last week who would only have conceded four frees in a game, so that was pleasing,” he said.

“It was good to also see the stuff we worked on at training last week, like hunting in packs and talking to one another, be taken into a game situation.”

However, he stresses that there are areas that they need to work more on ahead of that crunch game against Louth – Fermanagh’s conquerors in last year’s Lory Meagher Cup final at Croke Park.

“Our ball retention under pressure has to be better and we also have to do better with our chances.

“We shot 19 wides, most of them unchallenged, and our shot selection is still not great, but in saying that, that was 19 more scoring chances that we created and 1-19 is another very good score,” he added.

With no game this week, the management and squad will use the time to get ready for the meeting with the Wee County, and Baldwin feels he will know better about where they are after that game.

“We are into a final of sorts as we now contest promotion with Louth, and I said at the outset that would be the measuring stick for us, so we’ll see where we are at.

“It is winner takes all, and we will do our homework on Louth. We have a challenge game this Sunday, and we are going to give the squad a run-out and then we will be in a better place on Tuesday night to pick a team for Louth.

“We have two weeks of serious work ahead of us now and we are building a wee bit of momentum.

“I think the boys know that the Cavan result was the kick in the backside they needed,” he added.

Fermanagh will be without two key players for the game after Barney McAuley and Kevin McGarry sustained injuries in the league opener against Cavan that have ruled them out of the remainder of the league at least.

McAuley suffered a broken hand, while McGarry picked up a foot injury.

‘Two big losses’

“They are two big losses for us. Kevin is seeing a specialist on Wednesday, so we’ll wait and see, and Barney has already seen a specialist and we expect him to be out for five or six weeks.

“I would expect to see Barney again this year; he will certainly try his utmost to get back for the championship, and he’ll keep himself in shape,” he added.

The Fermanagh Manager though did have a number of big performers in the win over Leitrim, as other players stepped up to the plate in the absence of the injured duo.

“There was no hangover from losing Barney and Kevin, and I felt there were some outstanding performances.

“Rory Porteous was excellent at full back and Francie McBrien was superb. John Duffy came on and he just calmed things down, and you can see the bench is strong.”