Fermanagh minors begin their Ulster Championship campaign this weekend at Brewster Park in the first round of fixtures in group A, with Niall McElroy’s side facing a tricky test in the form of Monaghan.

Fermanagh failed to pick up a win in the three league games they played against Donegal, Sligo, and Tyrone but minor captain Oisín Swift is optimistic ahead of Saturday’s clash.

“The team preparation is going very well. Since the end of the league everyone has been going well in training and pushing hard, trying to get a championship place, making preparation that bit easier I suppose,.” he said.

Oisín added: “I’m expecting Monaghan to be a good test of where we are at currently. Like every game in the championship, it’s going to be a hard game but hopefully, we’ll come out on the right side of it.”

Tough challenge

Monaghan will travel to Enniskillen still high on confidence following a comfortable win over Down in their opening group game last weekend. For Swift it is just about taking it one game at a time.

“We will probably do a bit of work on them (Monaghan) this week as a team and their key men, as well as areas where we think we can exploit them.

“I think we’re all aware of our group and it’s difficult, but we haven’t really looked past the Monaghan game yet. We’ll take each game as it comes and try to pick up wins in as many of those games as we can.”

Fermanagh started their league campaign with a heavy loss to Donegal which was followed by a two-point defeat to Sligo in Belcoo in the middle of March.

Their final league game ended in a 2-13 to 0-06 loss against a strong Tyrone side in Dromore.

Swift says his side are taking the positives from the league which will add to the tough training sessions in the previous few weeks: “I think we had a positive league campaign despite not picking up a win. We took valuable lessons from each game which we can take forward into the championship.

“We had the chance to give opportunities to the whole squad which will benefit us throughout the championship.

“Training has been quite difficult I suppose. It’s the first time Fermanagh minors will be guaranteed at least four championship games so the preparation for that taxing month is well needed.”

Captain Swift says his job has been made easier this year by the support of his teammates and he knows how important a win at the weekend could prove to be in the first of four tough Ulster Championship encounters.

“I haven’t really noticed a difference in my own game this year partly because I’m in a position where the team is full of natural leaders who all stand up and share the responsibility when needed.

“Boys like Michael Burns, Ben Warnock, Mattie McDermott and Conor Mulligan have all stood up for us in the league and really drive us on when we need it.

“I suppose for people looking in from outside the group they might see it as a bit of a statement result.

“But for us, we believe we have the capabilities of getting a result and are looking forward to the challenge Monaghan brings.”