Fermanagh Minors had the perfect preparation for their upcoming Minor League and collected a rare trophy in the process as they defeated Carlow in the Garda Cup last weekend by three points.

An opening half which saw them take a five-point lead in at the break gave Fermanagh enough of a cushion to withstand a spell of Carlow dominance in the middle of the second half to claim the victory.

Fermanagh showed intent right from the throw-in as Newtownbutler's Daire Chapman fired over a free following a foul on James Tierney.

Carlow responded through a free of their own and it was the same routine again for the next two scores.
Fermanagh pointed through Nathan Beattie following a pass from Chapman before Carlow added another score from a placed ball.

The home side would start to dominate and rattled off the next five scores as Conor Mulligan, Beattie - with two from play and one from a mark and Chapman made it 0-7 to 0-02.

Carlow would stem the Fermanagh tide with their third point of the game but it was Daithi Mohan of Fermanagh who had the final say with a point to leave it 0-08 to 0-3 at the break.

The Erne men were quick out of the block for the second half and increased their lead to seven points courtesy of scores from Hannigan and Mulligan.

But the Leinster side grew into the game and cut the gap to two points with full-time approaching.

With six minutes of added time to play Fermanagh finished strong and Chapman fired over a point from play before adding a difficult free kick either side of a Carlow score it was Fermanagh who ran out winners and picked up the Gard Cup.

Reflecting on the game, Fermanagh manager, Niall McElroy felt it was a tough test for his side as they get ready for the minor league.

"We had to really earn the win. Carlow came back at us well in the second half, it was a tough battle at that stage and we needed those couple of late scores to get the victory.

"I was delighted for the lads that they got their hands on a trophy. Fermanagh underage teams need to get that taste of winning something more often to give them that belief that they can push on and compete. Hopefully, the win can give the lads confidence going into the Ulster Minor League."

The Ulster Minor League begins on Wednesday, March 6 with a trip to Ballybofey to face Donegal and McElroy is under no illusions of the quality his side will face: "Donegal are going to be a huge test. They have an exceptional team this year, one that's capable of winning the Ulster championship.

"It's a great opportunity for our lads to test themselves against one of the top teams in the competition to see where we are at.

"We have been improving game-on-game in pre-season, have gained a bit of belief from the Garda Cup win so hopefully we can use that to our advantage against Donegal."