Fermanagh manager Joe Baldwin was left frustrated and angered after he felt that key decisions went against his side as they slipped to defeat to Donegal in their opening Nickey Rackard Cup outing of the campaign in Letterkenny.

Fermanagh had played some sparkling hurling as they moved into a 0-10 to 0-06 lead but they then had forward Brian Teehan red carded while a contentious line ball led to Donegal’s goal early in the second half.

Frustrated and angered

“I am frustrated and angered with the decisions,” said Baldwin.

“It is a wee bit like groundhog day in that I’m again saying that we have come so close yet so far but I feel that there was an injustice done in the game and there were decisions made and the players on the field deserve greater than what we got. It just wasn’t good enough.”

In terms of the red card, Baldwin said: “The red card was very strange. I spoke to Brian and he assured me that there was nothing untoward going on.

“Everybodywas shocked, including the Donegal management. The decision was made by an umpire who was 70 metres away and blind-sided.

“To make that decision 22 minutes into a game you have to be absolutely sure about it.

“At that time we were completely on top and playing some delicious hurling,” said Baldwin.

This was followed by a point for Donegal that was initially signalled wide by the umpires only for a linesman to make the call while the line ball decision brought about the key score of the game.

“The line ball one, first of all we should deal with it, but it should never have got that far.

“The ball goes out exactly where the linesman is standing and he is absolutely clear that it is a Fermanagh ball but then he changes his mind and the ball is taken quick and they score the goal.

“These are the incidents that cost us the game,” stated Baldwin.

“Whenever you put in as much time and as much effort as Fermanagh hurlers do, as much as any other team in any other code, you expect the standard of officiating to be better.”

With regards the game itself, the Erne manager believes that his side now have to discover a way of playing for the entire duration of the contest.

“I was reasonably happy with things but a game lasts 72 or 73 minutes and we probably played exceptionally well for 62 or 63 minutes.

“Boys then got tired, the 14 boys that were on worked their socks off but the strength in depth isn’t there in the squad.

“I can’t ask any more but we have to learn how to turn a 63 minute performance into a 72 or 73 minute performance,” he added.

The task gets no easier this week with championship favourites Wicklow the visitors to Ederney.

Tough task

“We have a very tough task this week in Ederney but it is not that long ago that we had a tough task in Ederney against Mayo and we managed to get a result that day. We have no shortage of fight and determination, we just need that little bit of luck.”

And Baldwin still believes his side have the quality to make it through to the final.

“I think six points will take you to Croke Park so we have to get six from eight and we are still here and still fighting,” he said.