Peter Canavan feels his side must be more ruthless in front of goal
Righting some wrongs. That is the clear message coming from the Fermanagh camp as they travel to Mullingar to take on Westmeath this Saturday after the disappointment of their defeat at the hands of Cavan in the Ulster Championship.
“The boys were devastated after the Cavan game, as were the management. We were disappointed with how we played, especially in the opening 25 minutes. But it is not so long ago that you only got one shot at championship football. Now, we have a chance to go out and try and right some wrongs,” explained Fermanagh manager, Peter Canavan.
The Fermanagh players were back on the training pitch just 48 hours after defeat and the Tyrone legend explains that from what he has seen so far he has been delighted with how the players have taken on the challenge of the qualifiers.
“The response has been first class. We were back training on the Tuesday after the game and the attitude was excellent. Guys are hurting but they want to put things right.”
Fermanagh have not won a qualifier game since 2007 and while Westmeath away from home represents a tough draw the Erne boss is looking forward to the challenge.
“We would have liked a home draw. Westmeath are an excellent side and really are a division one side after getting promoted. Pat Flanagan has been doing some great work down there and he has introduced some new players who have performed very well and we know it will be a very difficult challenge for us but we are also really looking forward to getting out and playing.”
While there has been clear progress made this year there has also been frustration;
“We know where we have to make improvements. I thought we improved in the second half but having said that we got ourselves into a position to go on and win the game with ten minutes to go and we didn’t do that which was disappointing. It was like the Meath game in the league. We could have kicked on and won that and secured promotion but didn’t in the end,” Canavan explained.
And the two time All Ireland winner agreed that lack of championship success in recent years was something which was perhaps adding to the pressure;
“Yes, you could say that and it is a factor, some of our players have never won a championship game,” he said before going on to state that it was up to all involved to make sure that this is rectified;
“We have to be more ruthless, especially in front of goal. Winning helps develop that ruthless streak and getting your first championship win can sometimes be the hardest. But the players are working very hard as are the management team”
Fermanagh and Canavan came in for some criticism after the game from some expert pundits about the style of football that was adopted but the Errigal Ciaran clubman dismisses the notion;
“The game nowadays is a different game and there are people, who believe they are purists, who think that you can go out and play 15 against 15 in a traditional sense but they are living in a different world. You only have to look at the Armagh Cavan game to see what happens when a team does that.”
And Canavan believes that what we are seeing in Gaelic Football is an inevitable evolution of the game;
“In many ways we are falling into line with other sports where the first aim is to protect their own goal. Gaelic football was 6-2-6 for a long time and that was very rigid and the only surprise is maybe that it has taken so long to evolve.”
Returning to the game on Saturday Canavan expressed the view that despite their heavy defeat to Dublin in the Leinster Championship Westmeath would be fully mentally prepared for the Fermanagh challenge.
“I suppose it shows some more of the inequality of the Championship system. We had a ten week break between league and championship and then a turnaround of 13 days for a qualifier. Westmeath have had two games in the championship by the time we played our first and had another few weeks to get the Dublin defeat out of the system. They will be ready for this game.”
But Canavan is sure that the Leinster men are going to meet a Fermanagh team will up for the challenge;
“We are going down to perform and to right a few wrongs from the last day. The players were devastated with the Cavan loss but they want to get back out there and prove what they can do.”