It was a tough day at the office for Fermanagh in the Ulster Minor Championship as they shipped a heavy defeat at the hands of a strong Donegal side in Ballybofey on Saturday.

The home side began to open up a gap late in the first half and two goals in the opening two minutes of the second half ended any hopes Fermanagh had of winning the game.

“It was a tough assignment to go to Ballybofey and perform against a seasoned Donegal outfit who had done very well in the league and had already beat us in our meeting with them in the league.

“We knew it was going to be tough, but the boys will be disappointed that they only got five points.

“I’ve played in Ballybofey myself and it is a very tough place to go to,” said Fermanagh joint Manager Tony Collins.

Fermanagh had battled hard in the first half to stay in touch with Donegal, but the game got away from them in the period before and after half time.

“We had kept it tight for a long spell in the first half, and then all off a sudden we were seven down at half time, and it left them deflated coming in at the break.

“We were then hit with the two goals in the first two minutes of the second half, and it was game over at that stage.

“Any impetus that you would want to build up was just gone, and it was a mountain to climb. It went from seven points down to 12 inside two minutes.

“Look, they battled hard, but it wasn’t to be,” he said.

Collins admitted that Fermanagh also struggled to deal with Donegal’s greater physicality, with the home side drawing them into the tackle and forcing turnovers.

“It’s the Donegal blueprint of swarming people back and sometimes the boys had no option but to try and take it through the tackle.

“Unfortunately though, they weren’t strong enough at times to take it through, and got swallowed up and were dispossessed or turned over and they put us on the back foot again.

“As hard as we could defend, they were still popping it over our defence and they had some serious marksmen up top,” added Collins.

He did though feel that the players showed good effort through to the finish.

“It is difficult – once one thing goes wrong, other things start to unravel, but a lot of boys stood up and tried to push it on but unfortunately we just weren’t getting any scores,” he said.

However, Fermanagh do have a chance to bounce back with a backdoor game against Cavan to look forward to in just over a week’s time.

“I’m sure that the lads are hurting after that and maybe feel that they didn’t do themselves justice, but they now have another opportunity to show their talents.

“It would be nice if they can bounce back against Cavan, but it is another seasoned team.

“That’s where you want to be at though, it is a home draw which is good and hopefully we can get a performance.”

And he believes the players will only benefit from being exposed to more games at this level.

“It is all about experience and the reality is that this type of intense football is something the boys don’t get to experience in club football in Fermanagh.

“That physical ability and athleticism of Donegal is not something that the players experience too often, so it is good experience for the next time out,” he said.