Ruairí Corrigan swings his sights on the target.
Ruairí Corrigan is not a man who ever projects any great aura of self-satisfaction after a game, no matter how impressive the win.
While Fermanagh’s were full value for the victory Corrigan’s mind irresistibly turns to where improvement can be eked out. One imagines it is that sincerity of effort and spirit of self-examination which has made the Kinawley man an ever-present in Pete McGrath’s sides through the league.
“They started well,” says Corrigan of Tipp. “They came and stayed over last night, so we knew they were coming here to win. We didn’t start well at all. We were a bit disappointed with that and in the analysis during the week we’ll look at that. But to be fair we had started well this past few games and we knew once we got going that we’d be hard to stop. We knew our fitness was going to take us through and thankfully it did.”
Corrigan linked well with brother Tomás against the Premier men. Tomás was looking like a man back to his old self and the pair’s punchy stylings added an extra dimension to Fermanagh’s attacking play.
“That’s the good thing about it,” said Corrigan. “We got two goals there today. One was a route one ball into Sean [Quigley] and that’s just as effective as anything, but we also showed we can mix it up and run from the centre through middle and we’ve a bit of pace in there with Tomás as well. We know that a few years ago we were maybe seen as too one dimensional, but we’ve mixed it up over the course of the year.
“Tipperary were the biggest team we’ve come up against yet. We looked at that yes, but we focused mainly on ourselves. We looked at our own strengths and played our own game. We knew that they’d be a threat in the air so Tiarnán [Daly] came in and did a great job in the full back line. We mightn’t be the tallest team, but we can play to our strengths well.
“Tiarnán had a great game today, but there’s serious competition in the defence and all over the pitch. Niall Cassidy was unlucky not to start there today and no doubt the likes of him and Che Cullen will be back on Tuesday night fighting for a position.
As for the brother, Corrigan believes there is still more come.
“He was a bit rusty at the start of the year. He started a new job in Dublin so he’s getting it tough to commit as much as he might, but games like that will only help him and hopefully now for the next few games, starting with Armagh, he’ll be that bit sharper and get a few more scores for us.”
Corrigan, for one, will be travelling to the Athletic Grounds fancying Fermanagh’s chances.
“We’ll go there confident, but we obviously know Armagh have a 100 percent record and they’ll be expecting a win. But it’s up to us again to play to our own strengths and hopefully we’ll come down the right side of that result. I haven’t played against them before, but we know they’re going to be a step up in physicality on Tipperary, but we’re just going to focus on our own game,” said Corrigan.