Belnaleck and Enniskillen will go head to head in Ederney on Sunday with a place in the SFC final the prize for the winners.

The sides last met in championship football back in 2018 when two late Darragh McGurn frees saw Belnaleck edge out Enniskillen to reach the Intermediate final.

Both sides have now moved up to Senior level and the two of them will rightfully feel that this is a great opportunity for them to go on and reach the final. Like in 2018, this has the makings of a tight encounter between two well matched sides.

Belnaleck have lost the likes of Lee Cullen and Ciaran McBrien (travelling) as well as the injured Conor McAuley from that 2018 squad but manager Colm Bradley has been delighted with the progress of his entire squad this season.

“It has been a strange year in that we were written off by many people due to the players we have been without this year but I’ve been delighted with the whole squad this year and how they have progressed.

“There are players who haven’t seen championship action who have come on so much and I can see it in training that these players have a long number of years playing championship football ahead of them,” he said.

And he is hoping to go on and take another step in their progression on Sunday.

“Obviously, we want to see progression and reaching a final would represent progress because we have been to a semi final once before. In a way I think there will be less pressure on both teams now that the spectre of relegation to Intermediate is gone,” he said.

Bradley acknowledges though that his side will have to be at their best if they are to reach the decider.

“”The Gaels have proven over the last number of years that they are a top five team in the county. Even though they took a few years to get out of the Intermediate Championship they have been operating in Division One for three years now and reaching league semi finals and finals.

“Johnny Cassidy and Conor Love can win a game in a few touches and the rest of their players are all very good footballers. They know what they are doing and will exploit any weakness or any lapses in concentration.

“For ourselves, we need to play at or close to our optimum for long periods of the game and when we the Gaels are having their purple patch, as every team does, we will have to limit the damage caused.”

In the other dug-out, Colm’s brother Simon will be hoping to help plot Belnaleck’s downfall as part of John Reihill’s Enniskillen Gaels management team.

He feels that the weather could have a big bearing on the contest.

“Having looked at the replay the other night I think that the weather will dictate an awful lot. If we get a nice dry day that’s calm then you can expect a open, high paced game from both teams but if it is damp and wet then it just becomes a war of attrition. I think it will be a bit cagey too with certain people trying to mark certain people and all that type of stuff and that will have to settle but at the end of the day it will be about whoever gets the most ball in the middle of the pitch and is able to feed their respective forward lines is probably the team who will come out on top,” he explained.

Like Belnaleck, Enniskillen are very aware of threats posed by their opponents.

“It depends how they line their team out but, obviously, you have Darragh McGurn and also Bryan Owens has been very good up front. The addition of Che (Cullen) coming back gives them a powerful drive out of defence or from midfield depending on where he starts. They are a running team and they move the ball quickly,” said the elder of the Bradley brothers.

Enniskillen overcame Tempo in the quarter final and Bradley stresses that they will have to improve their shooting accuracy if they are to win on Sunday.

“Our shooting from play was less than 30 per cent and we have highlighted that to the boys and worked on it. We couldn’t complain about where the shots where from it was just the execution was poor so we have done some work on that.”

For many of the Enniskillen side that was their first experience of the Senior Championship and Bradley hopes that stands to them on Sunday.

“I hope the players do kick on from that and I know they have taken a lot from that victory as it showed them what championship football is all about.

“We’re looking forward to Sunday, it is a first semi-final for us since 2006 and it’s a chance to get to the final,” he added.