Erne Gaels and Roslea will clash in Belleek on Sunday lunchtime with the prize for the winner a spot in the last four of the Fermanagh SFC.

Erne Gaels will go into the game as favourites after enjoying a brilliant league campaign before taking second place in their group to seal home advantage in this last eight tie.

But they will know that they face a huge test against a Roslea side that has improved throughout the group stages and will have taken great confidence from last week’s win over Ederney that sealed their place in the knockout stages.

Shamrocks Manager Eamonn Kavanagh is pleased with the progress that his side are making.

“Over the last few weeks we have felt that things are coming together and we were not too far away. Against Ederney, we played well, and from our perspective, the championship started there as it was proper knockout football. It was a big game and we were delighted to have won it because the last thing you want is to be facing a relegation play-off,” he said.

Instead Roslea can look forward to a quarter final encounter, although Kavanagh knows that his side will be underdogs.

“They had a very good league and they are at home so it is going to be a very tough ask, but we will be going there to try and stay in the championship – that is our goal.

“It is championship football and that is all about who performs on the day,” he commented.

Erne Gaels suffered their first loss since the Club Players’ Competition when they went down by two points to Derrygonnelly last Saturday.

Manager Seamus Ryder did not risk a number of players who were carrying knocks for that game and he expects the vast majority of them to be back for Sunday.

“We didn’t want to take a chance with the boys and we would hope to have everybody apart from Shane Rooney and Gareth Deery available,” he said.

Like Kavanagh, Ryder believes it is all about the performance on the day.

“There are no second chances now and if you don’t put in a performance, then you are out.

“We know that Roslea are a big threat; the Quigleys, James McMahon is going very well, and they are a very different team to the one that played in the league.

“Roslea have championship pedigree and we have been burnt before by them so we will have to get a big performance to get through,” he added.

And he is hoping to learn the lessons from the Derrygonnelly defeat.

“They deserved to win – they were the better team and controlled the game for long periods, but we could have nicked it at the end.

“There are lessons to be learnt from it and hopefully we can take those into Sunday’s game.”