Fermanagh manager Joe Baldwin is in no doubt that his side can go the whole way in the Nickey Rackard Cup.

Baldwin’s charges get their campaign under way on Sunday away to Donegal with games against Wicklow, Armagh, Louth and Roscommon to follow.

And despite his side suffering relegation in the league, Baldwin firmly believes that they can make a real challenge for honours.

“The reason I came back for another three years is that this squad, I have absolute belief in them. I believe we can win the Nickey Rackard Cup.

“I think we are in really good shape. I think the starting 15 is very, very strong and similar to the league, I think this will be very competitive.

“Teams will take points off other teams and there is no reason that we can’t go all the way.

“The hopes are to try and reach Croke Park and hopefully win the competition. I do honestly believe that we are good enough,” said the Erne boss.

Fermanagh were relegated from Division 3A but they were very competitive in every game, losing three by a point.

And it all came down to the finest of margins on the final day away to Armagh, when the roll of the ball was the difference between relegation and being in a league semi-final.

“The disappointing thing about the Armagh game was the result but I am going to completely flip that and say that in the Armagh game we were pushed to our limits.

“The elements went against us, we went eight points down, but we were one inch from the ball crossing the line and being in a league semi-final,” said Baldwin, who has nothing but praise for his players.

“These Fermanagh boys don’t know what it’s like to be beaten; Sean Corrigan, Ryan Bogue, Danny Teague, Francie McBrien, the younger boys – Ciaran and Caolan Duffy, Luca McCusker – they have all come of age. We have masses of experience; even our young boys are experienced.”

Baldwin knows that he is working with limited resources but he is adamant that they are getting the very best out of the players they are working with.

“We are improving all the time and the league in some respects probably showed that.

“The reality with Fermanagh inter-county hurling is that we are punching away above our weight in terms of having one Senior club and one Junior club to select from.

“I’ll give you an example – I also look after Cloughmills, a hurling club in Antrim. We played three games in the last seven days whereas some of our boys play three games in a year. But we are getting the maximum amount of this group of players.”

And he intends to keep the squad progressing with the whole focus now on the Nickey Rackard Cup and that opener against Donegal, with two points the target for the Ernemen.

“If you can get off to a win and collect two points, you are absolutely flying. That’s is definitely what we are going to try and do, go and collect two points.

“Donegal are an experienced team. We have done a lot of video analysis on them over the last couple of days and they are very physical, they won the Conor McGurk this year, they contested the league final last week, so they know how to get things done.

“ They have been around this championship for a while now, so it will be another battle of no quarter asked or given.”

And Baldwin feels that three wins out of the five games may be enough to get through to the final.

“It is maybe six points and a decent scoring difference will probably do it, or if you can scrap seven points, it would take you there.

“It will be competitive and I think the only thing we need is that little bit of luck.

“As I said, I think we are in really good shape and we are looking forward to this championship.”