Fermanagh Manager Joe Baldwin watched his side reach the Division 3B final – but he was far from satisfied with the performance against Leitrim on Sunday and feels that there are a lot of areas for improvement ahead of next weekend’s decider against either Leitrim or Longford.

“We got over the line but certainly there were aspects of the play that I wouldn’t be happy with, and it just goes to show that maybe we are not as far down the line as you would want to be at this time of the year.

“We know there is improvement needed, not just for the league final; the Championship comes thick and fast after that and you are trying to peak at the right time.

“On Sunday, our foot definitely came off the gas a little bit, and to give credit to Leitrim as well, they did play well, and they stifled us and they had their homework done.

“But, we have a bit of work to do now ahead of the league final,” he said.

However, winning when not at their best was something that did please Baldwin.

“We ground it out and that shows a bit of character on a difficult, smaller pitch against a big, physical team, and I would be pleased with that aspect of it.

“I just thought our energy levels were very low – I didn’t think we were crisp enough.

“Some of the hurling we have been playing, it just didn’t come out for one reason or another.

“As I said, our foot came off the gas ever so slightly, and it is something we need to look at going into a league final,” he added.

The fact that Fermanagh have made it straight into the final means that they have an extra week now to prepare, and Baldwin is hoping to get some injuries cleared up in that period.

“We didn’t really want the extra game,” he stated.

“I know a lot of coaches say it is hard to beat games at this time of the year, and I would agree to a certain extent, but I have a few niggles that we want to get cleared up.

“Francie McBrien and John Duffy have been injured, Dylan Bannon is not that far away, and Barney McAuley is out of the country on work commitments, but we are hoping to have him back.

“It is a big week for the boys who are injured. We shouldn’t be too far away, but the only thing is that those boys won’t have had any competitive hurling under their belts in terms of getting a game under their belt, but we will have to work on that next week in an in-house situation,” he added.