Fermanagh manager Kieran Donnelly admitted his side made too many mistakes as they slipped to a six point defeat to Cavan in the Division Three final at Croke Park on Saturday night.

A Darragh McGurn goal had put Fermanagh into a one-point lead at the interval, 1-03 to 0-05, but the Breffnimen took control in the second period, especially the latter stages, to go on and secure the win.

“We’re disappointed, it just didn’t materialise.  A lot of their scores came from our mistakes; missed passes, taking contact – Cavan were aggressive and physical and that led to a lot of it, but our decision making was poor at that critical juncture of the game.

“I thought we led to our own downfall, but Cavan are an excellent team. They have excellent players in key positions, and they stepped up for them at key times,” he said.

Fermanagh did enjoy a good spell in the second half when they rallied to close a four-point gap back to one, but Cavan reasserted themselves on proceedings to pull away down the home straight with Mickey Graham’s side accounting for the last five points of the tie.

“We felt we were in a good condition (when we got it back to a point). We finished all games strong this year and felt we could kick on, but we just couldn’t get ahead and get that traction in the game.

“I felt that when we got it back to a one point game they got a run on us by our mistakes and once the game got stretched their have players who can kick and in those one v ones they are very aggressive,” said Donnelly.