Work rate and intensity are the key ingredients of any Maurice McLaughlin side, and if they are to succeed against Ulster champions Down on Friday night then those two features are going to have to be of the highest level.

They are the things that McLaughlin always demands of his players, and if he gets that he believes it gives them a chance in any game.

“What I would constantly tell any of the teams that I’m involved with is if we outwork the opposition and match their level of intensity, then we will be there with a fighting chance.

“That’s what we have got to do – that’s what it comes down to,” he explained.

Fermanagh will travel to Newry as underdogs for this Ulster U-20 Preliminary Round contest, but McLaughlin has been there before against the Mournemen.

McLaughlin was Minor Manager a couple of years ago when the Ernemen sprung a surprise against a highly-fancied Down side at Brewster Park.

And he says that while they respect Down, they won’t fear them.

“This is the fourth time that I’ve encountered Down in the last three years, and we constantly say they are the aristocrats of Ulster football, and they are the current U-20 champions, so we don’t underestimate the task that we face from Down. But having said that, we are going to Newry to win.”

McLaughlin was in charge of the U-20s last year when they lost to a Down team in the semi-final that went on to win Ulster.

He says there were lessons to take out of that game, but he doesn’t feel the performance was as bad as it seemed at the time.

“That’s the level you need to get to; there was a difference there, physicality was the first difference.

Scoreless

“But I would have to say that performance was probably a lot better than people thought at the time, because for 22 minutes in the second half we held a very good Down team scoreless, and they were probably very disappointed that they didn’t go on and win the All Ireland.

“I felt in that second half if we could have gone on and broken the lines at times, and got a few scores and got it back to three or four, it probably would have left it a lot more interesting.

“They were an extremely good side, as was shown by them going on to win Ulster, and they were unlucky to not get to the All-Ireland final,” he commented.

Preparations for this year’s competition have gone well so far, according toMcLaughlin, who felt that the games in the Philly McGuinness competition have been very beneficial coming into this Friday night’s encounter.

“We played a very strong Sligo side and it was a great challenge; we really didn’t do ourselves justice and didn’t give a level of performance that day, but we learnt and bounced back quickly and we gave that level of performance against Leitrim.

“We also had a great battle against Longford in our last league game.

“The Philly McGuinness is great preparation for championship and we used upwards on 30 players in the league,” he said.

And he believes that the players are ready to deliver a strong performance in Pairc Esler.

“I’m really looking forward to it, and I know the players are as well.

“We have been working hard since the second week of December, and I can’t fault the lads’ commitment – they have trained hard and are in good shape, and we are going up the road to hopefully do a job,” he added.