CJ’s charges let off the ‘Laois’ again

By Jonathan Hogan

A LONG wait ends on Sunday as Fermanagh ladies make their belated return to championship action – but manager CJ McGourty knows there’s no room for rustiness when Laois come to town.

When the Erne ladies step out in Lisnaskea, it will be six weeks since their last competitive outing, a narrow 4-11 to 3-11 defeat to Tyrone in the Ulster Intermediate Championship.

While that loss in Kinawley was a tough pill to swallow, it also left the team with a sense of momentum and belief. Still, after a lengthy break from championship football, McGourty warns: “We don’t want to be caught on the hop.”

With opponents Laois coming off an impressive 3-11 to 2-7 win over Roscommon in their opening All-Ireland Intermediate game, Fermanagh know they must be sharp from the first whistle if they are to make their mark at this higher level against the Leinster runners-up.

“In a funny way I thought we had a lot of momentum off the back of the Tyrone defeat,” he said. “I thought it was a real positive performance, apart from the last sort of 12 minutes that turned the game.

“I’ve been chatting to people since and there’s no doubt we were the better team on the day against Tyrone. But there’s no point being the better team and losing matches, it’s a results-based business.

“We’ve been doing our homework on Laois now over the past couple of weeks. They’ve had three championship matches in the period we’ve had none. We don’t want to be caught on the hop, so we need to put a big emphasis on getting up to the speed of the match early.

“It’s okay going back to your club and playing the odd challenge match and that, but it’s not the same. It’s going to be an uphill task, but one we’re excited about and feel we can get a result.”

Fermanagh’s transition from Junior champions to Intermediate contenders was always going to bring challenges, and McGourty knows his players are operating in a different arena now.

“It’s a step up from last year,” he said. “A lot of teams in Junior might only have one or two decent forwards whereas at Intermediate they’ve at least four, and it’s the same with defenders, midfielders, so we’re going to have our work cut out.

“But can we be successful at this level? Of course we can. We’re very confident in our own ability.”

While Fermanagh had a bye in the opening weekend of the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship, results across the four groups showed just how competitive this grade is shaping up to be.

Aside from Laois’ win over Roscommon in Portlaoise, Monaghan gained revenge over Cavan with a narrow 2-11 to 1-13 victory, reversing their Ulster semi-final defeat, and Claire impressed with a commanding 5-12 to 2-6 win over Offaly.

“There’s a lot of strange results out there in terms of ladies’ (football),” reflected McGourty. “You just have to look at Cavan beating Monaghan by 11 points about three or four weeks ago and then Monaghan turned it around this past weekend.

“I suppose Laois have had an up-and-down league; Louth beat them, they drew with Limerick – both teams that we had beat last year. But they’ve played at a higher standard, so they’ll go into the match as favourites, not only on the league form but their great win last weekend. So, we’ll have it all to do.”

Laois may be favourites, but McGourty is clear-eyed. He knows his side has the quality to cause an upset.

“The first thing to do is stay up. If you win one of the group games, you automatically stay up because you’re in a quarter-final. So, the plan is to go as deep into the summer as we can.

“We’ll reassess from week to week where we’re at, but I’d be very disappointed if we don’t go deep into the summer, we have the talent to.

“But in the short-term we’ve to set a target and we’re playing at home this weekend, so can we go, give it absolutely everything and get a result?

“If we do that, not only does it put you in a good position in the group but you’re qualified for an All-Ireland quarter-final and you’re safe, and that was the number one ambition.

“That’s where the doorways open and you can start looking at the bigger picture and how far you can go.”