By Niall Gartland

ERNE hurlers slumped to a chastening defeat against Donegal in their first competitive league outing of the new season, and they’ll have to defy last year’s trend if they’re to account for Louth this Sunday afternoon.

The two teams met on three separate occasions in 2025 – a Division Four group stage match, the Division Four final, and a Nickey Rackard match in the championship.

Louth prevailed on all three occasions, though the biggest talking point that emerged was the chosen venue for their league final meeting. Or more accurately, the venue that wasn’t selected. The opposition managers publicly lambasted GAA chiefs after the game for their decision to take it away from Croke Park, instead playing it at the Truagh Gaels club in Monaghan.

The Erne men lost their Division Four final by five points, but the other two outings against Louth were one-sided affairs and it’ll take something of an upset if they’re to clinch the two points on offer this weekend.

Louth have played two and won one heading into the game. A 1-20 to 1-15 win over Armagh was followed by last Saturday afternoon’s eight-point defeat to Tyrone at Darver, but Fermanagh’s encounter with Donegal proved to be a total mismatch in their first game of what’s likely to be a tough Division Three campaign.

Donegal ran out 2-35 to 0-9 victors and the game was long over by the half-time whistle, Mickey McCann’s side surging into a 17-point lead.

It took Fermanagh, who are managed this season by Daithi Hand and Peter Galvin, 28 minutes to register a score against a Donegal side calling upon 13 different scores on the day.

There were few positives to take from proceedings from a Fermanagh perspective. Eamon Óg Magee, a talented young hurler from the Erne Gaels club, lofted over three points from play but the onslaught never let up and it was a day that they’d very much like to forget.

Louth will very much want to get back up and running and in Darren Geoghegan they have a player who can shoot the lights out on any given day.

First and foremost, Fermanagh will hope to produce a performance of which they can be proud, though it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that they take the win.

Still, Louth are justifiably favourites given their triple success against Fermanagh in 2025.