Ryan McCluskey and his side are every bit as good as their opponents
The chance of the open draw has seen Fermanagh and Cavan scheduled to face each other for the third time this season and for the second time inside a matter of weeks.
Fermanagh will this time be visiting Kingspan Breiffni Park for the championship repeat for what has every prospect of being another down to the wire contest.
Back in March at Breiffni, the Erne side just edged a tight league encounter but then of course had the tables turned on them in June with Cavan emerging winners at Brewster Park by a slim line margin.
Going by those two results there will be no side viewed as a hot favourite to progress through to round three of the qualifiers. Both panels will be able to approach the game with real conviction that they can make headway but that optimism will be tempered by the acceptance that the opposition is on a par with them.
Since the clash at Brewster Park there has been contrasting fortunes for the two sides and this contrast could have an impact on next Saturday’s meeting.
Cavan’s euphoria at winning two successive Ulster championship games for the first time in many seasons has subsequently taken a hit with their agonising semi final exit to Monaghan. Their management now has the task of lifting spirits, rejuvenating ambition etc.
Fermanagh on the other hand have had the terrific fillip of having put their championship departure behind them with their exhilarating victory over Westmeath.
There will be buoyancy in the Erne camp which may not be replicated in the opposition panel.
And no doubt Fermanagh will be concentrating on the positives from their performance against Cavan in the championship.
There was the dismal opening twenty to twenty five minutes when the side seemed to freeze in the starting blocks but after that there was a satisfactory enough performance all round given the fact that they had left themselves facing a daunting uphill task for the rest of the contest.
But it was a task which did come close to being successfully achieved, on level terms with the final minutes looming.
The imperative this time around will certainly be to avoid a repeat of that slow burner and it is highly unlikely that that will be the case.
From the recent Westmeath encounter the positive will be the overall invigorating performance and the fact that this was a thoroughly merited victory over a team who will be operating in the NFL first division next year. And a victory earned on away turf to boot.
The downside from the Mullingar game was the lamentable scoring return. A tally of three goals and ten points has a very decent look about it but there was also the stark total of twenty wides and some of those misses were in the inexcusable category.
But nobody misses on purpose and it is improbable that there will be a repeat of that depressing display on Saturday evening.
So the team arrives in Breiffni in sound heart and there should be a quiet belief that a win can indeed be chiselled out.
There will be nothing new to cope with in this contest, both teams will be fully aware of what to expect from each other.
From the Fermanagh point of view there will again be the priority of curbing the scoring potential of full forwards Martin Dunne and Eugene Keating, the latter perhaps the more dangerous of the two. Big strategy for Cavan also is the dynamism of Cian Mackey so his running will have to be tightly policed.
But it is to be hoped that the team strategy won’t be totally constructed around the need to curb Cavan’s inside duo of Dunne and Keating. Of course they will have to be corralled but Fermanagh have to set up a stall that puts pressure on the opposition also.
A more adventurous approach which involves taking the game to Cavan will hopefully pay dividends and see the team advance into round three.
And there is no reason why that third round ticket cannot be secured.From the form book this season there is
virtually nothing to separate the teams and the fact that the game is in Breiffni Park is neither here nor there.
Fermanagh are every bit as good as this opposition and given the perquisite dollop of fortune that is essential to any sports success, the Erne name can be in the hat for the upcoming third round draw and here things do become all that more interesting.
But crossing the Breiffni bridge is the immediate task and that task is well within Fermanagh’s reach.