Fermanagh Minor joint Manager Tony Collins believes that the more championship games his side play, the better it is for them.

The Erne side suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Donegal in the last round but they have the chance to put that right on Saturday when they take on neighbours Cavan in the qualifiers at Brewster Park at 2pm.

“Any championship – to gain that experience for the development of these lads is important,” said Collins. “The more championship games they get, the better for those lads, and we are looking forward to the game.”

Collins admits that they were served some harsh lessons against a strong Donegal side two weeks ago.

“It was a very steep learning curve that last day and I suppose it comes down to the psychology of young lads.

“It is about confidence, and the last day they withstood the tide for a while, but once the confidence went it was fire-fighting all over.

“It was difficult, coming out of Ballybofey, but they have managed to pull themselves back together now.”

And Collins says that training has gone well since that defeat in Ballybofey.

“Training has went well, the boys have buckled down and they have realised the mistakes they made the last day.

“We’re hoping now that we can match up to Cavan but we are out-and-out underdogs after Cavan’s performance against a hotly-fancied Tyrone in their championship game,” he stated.

The side have already met this year when Cavan took the spoils in the league, but Collins is hoping that his side can play as they did in the second half of that game.

“We played them in Knockbride earlier in the league and Cavan, I think, were leading by seven or eight points at half time.

“But we came out in the second half and it only finished with six points in it, so we matched them up in that second half, but we know it is a difficult task because they are very strong and mobile.”

However, he is hoping that home advantage works in Fermanagh’s favour and he is urging Fermanagh supporters to come out and get behind the team.

“Hopefully, with the game being in Brewster Park, the Fermanagh crowd will come out and get behind the team and that would help them greatly with confidence.

“We just want to make sure that we are competitive and we perform; that’s all we can ask of the lads. Yes, a win would be brilliant, but we want to get a performance and see where that takes us.”