Fermanagh captain Declan McCusker believes that there is plenty of learning to come out of Saturday’s Ulster Championship defeat at the hands of Tyrone, especially for the younger players who showed in the first half in particular that they are capable of holding their own at this level.

Fermanagh had produced a fine first half display but somehow went in a point down before Tyrone dictated the opening 20 minutes of the second half to put the game out of Fermanagh’s reach.

“We played well in the first half and we should have went in three or four up, that would have been a fair reflection,” said McCusker.

“Obviously, their (first half) goal was a killer and we missed a few chances ourselves and that would have made a big difference.

“Then at the start of the second half even Darragh’s point could easily have been a goal and that would have given us a big lift.”

Tyrone though dominated the next spell as they hit an unanswered 1-08 to open up a commanding lead.

“That third quarter though we were very poor, we struggled to get out and they used the mark very well and pulled away.

“They put a big press on but there was times that we had possession but we kicked it away to easily when we needed to keep the ball to settle the game again. I suppose those are the things that we need to learn from,” he said.

Fermanagh though kept going to the end and hit two late goals which McCusker felt put a fairer reflection on the final score.

“If we were beaten by 14 or 15 points I don’t think it would have been a fair reflection.

“We didn’t give up, we said that after the first league game against Antrim, when we basically did give up, that no matter what was happening it wouldn’t happen again so it was good enough to show that response but it is still disappointing,” he added.

However, he feels that the young players in the squad will benefit from the game as they competed well for long periods against the reigning All Ireland champions.

“It will definitely help a lot of those younger boys.Our squad is probably a bit inexperienced at the minute and there is loads of learning and that is something we are going to have to do now, learn from it and go forward.”

And in terms of moving forward, McCusker is eager to give the inaugural Tailteann Cup their full attention with the Erne captain believing that if Fermanagh are on their game then it is a competition that they can win.

“If you want to improve as a team you need to be playing together. At the end of the day that is the level we are at at the minute and we are going to be playing teams at the same level so it is going to be competitive.

“If we are at ourselves we should be able to give it a good rattle and if we are playing together and we’re winning games it will hopefully bring us on.,” he stated.

And the Ederney man is hopeful that the whole squad will buy in to trying to go as far as they can in the competition.

“You would hope that boys are motivated enough by it.

“Very few Fermanagh teams have won any silverware so if we have a chance to do that I don’t see why boys won’t be pushing for it. Hopefully everybody stays about and puts in the effort.

“My opinion would be to give it a real go and most of the boys would be the same so hopefully we can.”