Fermanagh Ladies will be hoping to book their place in the Division Four final when they take on Leitrim this Sunday in Templeport.

The Erne side secured a semi-final spot following a convincing 13-point victory over London at the start of the month.

Fermanagh finished second in their group to Antrim and had to wait, following their win, to hear if their semi-final spot was secured as they needed an Antrim win over Carlow to confirm a second-place finish in the group.

Captain Shannan McQuade says her side is focusing on their team’s strengths heading into Sunday’s clash against Leitrim.

“We played Leitrim in a challenge match at the beginning of the year.

“I expect them to be very defensive and will try to move the ball quickly on the attack.

“We are focusing on us going into the game.

“Of course, there will be match-ups and we’ve spoken briefly about the way Leitrim play but we will be focused on implementing our game plan,” said the Fermanagh captain.

McQuade knows Leitrim will be coming into the match filled with confidence following their 3-13 to 0-9 victory over Wicklow but says there are plenty of positives to take from their win against London.

Many positives

“We came away from the London match with many positives but there were still many things we identified that we have worked on since so we will try to implement this on Sunday.

“Our attacking play has improved over the league. Blaithin Bogue was a massive miss in our forward line, and I think in previous years we maybe relied heavily on her to get scores but over the league campaign we had girls stepping up and getting the scores from all over the pitch with Courtney Murphy as a perfect example from centre half back getting a goal on our last day out against London,” she commented.

McQuade, who was named captain at the start of the season, is relishing her new role and hopes that the big game experience they gained in their run in the All-Ireland Junior Championship in the last few years can aid her side at the weekend.

“I think by being captain I’m more conscious of other positions on the pitch, making me more responsive to the importance of my own support play.

“We have had many big days out over the years, and I think with having that experience going into the semi-final on Sunday it will stand to us, not distracted by the importance of the match but focused on the game at hand.”