Fermanagh Manager, Pete McGrath
Pete McGrath is unequivocal when it comes to Sunday’s championship clash with Antrim. Excuses ‘will not wash’ with the Down man.
He believes Fermanagh are good enough to beat a ‘dangerous Antrim side’ but says that the players must be able to ‘perform to their best’ in championship if they want to be successful.
“There is no point in hiding behind lame excuses and saying ‘it just didn’t happen for me on the day’. That will not wash with me. You have to have the mental toughness and resilience to play championship football. This is the time to prove yourself as a player. To go out and do yourself justice as a player and as a collective team over 75 odd minutes of football.”
The Down native wants to see his players grow on Sunday and thinks that the white heat of championship is where the ‘real’ players come to the fore.
“I think players have to be aware that they are judged on championship football, we all are. It is the supreme test. It is what your season is all about and when you see a player perform on a championship stage you know that this guy is the real deal.”
The brutal truth is that Fermanagh have not won an Ulster Championship match since 2010. 13 championship games have been played in five years with three wins achieved.
“Championship football is a test of your ability and your character and teams who are to be successful relish and flourish when they play championship football. I know the players are good enough. They just have to go out and perform,” McGrath said, before adding that all the focus will be on just ‘this one game.’
“I never understood people looking past the first game and setting goals of winning the Ulster Championship. I think that if you asked any manager, take Donegal, or Derry or Tyrone or Down, none of those managers were looking to the next game. You have to concentrate on just this one game. At the end of the day if you don’t win your first game you can’t win an Ulster Championship. We have a roadblock in front of us in the shape of Antrim and we have to get around that roadblock.”
Speaking of Antrim specifically McGrath knows that the Saffrons pose a real threat and revealed that his team know all about the danger of Liam Bradley’s side.
“I think the players probably know better than anyone the type of player that Antrim have. They know the quality that they possess and that they are a very dangerous opponent. Antrim will have geared everything towards this game.”
The Erne boss says that there will be no hint of complacency from anyone inside the Erne camp and the two time All Ireland winning manager dismissed Antrim’s poor league form as being misleading.
“We have put Antrim’s league into context for the players. The fact is that their league campaign was over after just three or four games. They knew promotion could not be achieved and that they could not get relegated so in reality they had three competitive games so you cannot read into the league too much. We had six competitive games with only the last game being something of a dead rubber.”
That last game was against Offaly and was perhaps Fermanagh’s flattest performance of the season so McGrath is right to point out the frailties involved in reading too much into Antrim’s poor league campaign.
“I could not understand why any Fermanagh player would be complacent going into this game and they won’t be. No player should ever be complacent going into an Ulster Championship game. You can never underestimate any opponent in Ulster and you have to ensure you perform to your best. If we do those two things and Antrim beat us then I will say well played to Antrim, you deserved the win,” he explained.
The Fermanagh manager though has every faith that if his side play ‘close to their potential’ that they will emerge victorious on Sunday. Preparations for the game have been progressing nicely with McGrath particularly pleased with a ‘highly competitive’ friendly his team had with Armagh.
“The game ended up a draw on a scoreline of 1-13 to 0-16 with Armagh getting a goal in the last three minutes. It was intense and there was plenty of cutting edge to it and in so much as you can get out of challenge games I was very pleased with the performance.”
And a performance is what McGrath wants from his players on Sunday. From speaking to the Down man he fully expects one.