THE Enniskillen players were warned prior to theirSenior championship clash with Tempo that everything would go to another level, but it was only when the game got going that they realised how big the step up would be.

The Gaels had been around the top of Division One for the past few years, but it was only last year that they eventually got out of the Intermediate Championship.

“We had been trying for a few years to get out of the Intermediate and it wasn’t that we lacked belief, it was just that the Intermediate Championship is hard to get out of, but getting out of it last year was great,” said attacker Conor Love.

However, Love admits that the step up to Senior Championship this year was one that took them by surprise.

“It is a massive step up. I think there were only a couple of the lads who had played in the Senior Championship before, but for the vast majority of us we hadn’t played at that level.

‘We were maybe a bit naive’

“I think we were maybe a bit naive to think that we had played in Division One for a few years and did well and that would be the same in the championship, but you saw in the quarter final against Tempo the shock we got.

“We knew that Tempo had the pedigree, but it was the intensity that was different, and we just needed to get up to speed.

“That really helped us in the last game against Belnaleck, because we upped our intensity. We had played both them teams in Division One, but it is not the same at all – Senior Championship is just a different level,” he stated.

That win over Belnaleck sent the Gaels through to a final meeting against Derrygonnelly, an opponent that Love and his team-mates were well used to coming up against at Youth level.

“From the start it was always Derrygonnelly, probably even from U-10s when they had the tournament out in Derrygonnelly.

“I think every final we had, bar one or two coming up through the years, was against Derrygonnelly, and if we met in the semi-final, it was sort of like the final. It was always Derrygonnelly,” he said.

The sides are now back facing each other in finals at Senior level. They contested the Division One final at the end of September and the Harps came out on top that day.

“After the game we were disappointed, but after a few days we looked back at the game. It was our first Senior final and I think it was more a learning experience than a disappointment.”

It was still a defeat though, and that was not something that the young Enniskillen players were used to at underage level, with Love part of the side that went on to lift the Ulster Minor Club title.

And he wants to see that mentality installed in the Senior set-up.

“I think we need to remind ourselves of that at times. It is so different, when we were younger we never lost and if we did lose it was rare and disappointing, but then you had the lads who were playing Senior at the time who weren’t winning things.

“We came in and mixed the two groups together, and now we are just trying to find our feet at this level and bring that mentality that we had at Youth back.”

For that winning mentality, Love needs to look no further than Sunday’s opposition.

“We look at Derrygonnelly and what they have done this past six years, and you have to give them credit. They have lost one game in six years in the Senior Championship, so we need to look at them, pay respect to them and try and replicate it.”

On Sunday it is Derrygonnelly who will be favourites to lift the New York Cup and Love believes that Enniskillen go into the final with nothing to lose.

“It is not going to be easy – they are favourites, and I don’t think anyone gives us a chance.

“But, we are happy enough with that. When you have nothing to lose, you have no fear, and we are going out to enjoy it. That has been the message: play with no fear, and enjoy it.”