Fermanagh Manager James Daly was disappointed that his side did not see out the game, having led by five points with ten minutes to go – but he believes that the team have come a long way over the last few months, and he is aiming for further improvement between now and the championship.

“On Sunday evening I was very annoyed, but when I reflect on where we were two months ago, we have come a long way.

“But, with ten minutes to go and you are up by five points, then you should win the game.

“I think a bit of inexperience told in maybe holding the ball up at the right times, and making that cynical foul on them when it matters.

“We didn’t do those things, and we were also a bit naive for the first and the third goals, but that is something that we will see on the video and we will work on with the girls,” he said.

Daly admits though that he didn’t think that he would have been contesting a league semi-final when he started out this season.

“It wasn’t going to be a quick fix here and if you had said to me at Christmas time that we were going to get a league semi-final, I would have taken the hand off you!

“That’s testament to the quality that is here in Fermanagh, there is serious talent and they all know how to play football but they maybe just have to be a bit more street-smart in certain situations.

“We switched off a couple of times and that cost us but that is our job – to make that better and work with the girls.

“We are learning and I do expect us to move on and improve,” he added.

Daly is happy with the progress of the squad, to date, but he is still keen to get some of those players who did not return to come back into the squad ahead of the Ulster and All Ireland Junior Championships.

“The girls who were there on Sunday were good enough to win the game on Sunday, but it is up to us to make the panel deeper and stronger and that is not something we have ever stopped trying to do.

“Our job is to put the best possible Fermanagh team on the pitch,” he said.

The focus now for Fermanagh will switch to the Ulster Junior Championship with a familiar foe in Antrim, the opponents in four weeks’ time.

And Daly is not shy in stating that the goal is to win the championships that they are playing in.

“Our goals is to win an Ulster Championship and win an All Ireland, that’s our goal.

“Somebody was telling me that Limerick will be one of the fancied teams to win the Junior All Ireland, but we wouldn’t be afraid of them.

“I’m sure if we meet again, they would have their homework done on us but we would know a bit more about them too and what to be looking out for.

“We feel that we have a good squad here and I feel that this team should at least be playing Division Three and Intermediate football and pushing for higher honours,” he added.