Fermanagh minors will face a familiar foe in the form of Donegal as they meet in the Ulster Championship this weekend in what will be a tough task.

Donegal recorded a 2-09 to 0-05 win when the sides met in Ballybofey at the start of March to open one of two Ulster Minor League games for Niall McElroy’s side.

Fermanagh went into half-time level with Donegal at three points each which they will take as a positive considering the quality of opposition.

Ryan Hannigan, Daire Chapman, and Odhran McGovern fired over three unanswered points to give the visiting side the lead before Donegal drew level before the break and eventually went on to score two second-half goals through Alex Cunnea and Luke McGuinness.

McElroy says his players are ready for Saturday’s affair but anticipates another difficult test.

“Preparations have been going well, we’ve had a few weeks to prepare for the Championship after the league finished, the boys have been working hard and training well and are ready to go for the game on Saturday,” he said.

“Donegal will be a big challenge, they beat us well in Ballybofey in the league a few weeks ago and they narrowly missed out on getting to the Ulster Minor League Final as well so that is just the level of quality that we are facing.”

Fermanagh followed up their defeat to Donegal with a 3-15 to 1-07 loss to Cavan in Derrygonnelly as another close opening half was followed by a dominant Cavan performance as they hit second-half goals through Finn Crowe and Charlie Fallon.

McElroy says his side can take plenty from their two league defeats but knows they will have to be on top of their game to come out with a result on Saturday: “We have a lot of learnings from all the games we’ve played so far this year between challenge games and then league games also, you know,” he added.

“I suppose we can look back on the league back in Ballybofey, we were in the game very much so in the first half and then early in the second half it was going well but we sort of lost our way a wee bit.

"We conceded a goal and that put us on the back foot, and we never really recovered from it and then I suppose the second half we tried to make our recovery, our decision-making on the ball and our choice of pass wasn’t good enough at times and that sort of cost us scores.

"So, there’s big things we need to improve upon if we are going to be in with a chance on Saturday.”

A case of illness plagued the Erne side after their meeting with Donegal but barring any late knocks they will have a full squad to pick from.

“We have a clean bill of health, we’ve been training well over the past few weeks and everyone is ready to go. We are really looking forward to the game now,” McElroy concluded.