Porteous wants Erne to finish the job

By Pauric McGurn

FERMANAGH full-back Rory Porteous wants Fermanagh to finish the job as they aim to complete a 100 per cent winning run in the Division 3B group stage.

A hard-fought victory over Lancashire last weekend secured their at least a semi-final spot, and they host Longford on Saturday knowing that the winner will take head straight to the decider.

“We know Longford down through the years and we know they are never an easy challenge,” said Porteous.

“For us though, it’s just Longford we are thinking about. It’s three wins from three and it’s one step closer to a league final but we have to finish the job this weekend and take care of Longford.

“We just need to get a win, it won’t be easy but I firmly believe again, if we work hard and take our chances, then we have enough character in this squad to do that.”

The side are in this position thanks to a hard-fought 1-13 to 1-8 win over Lancashire last time out, and the defender said it was one of their toughest challenges of the season.

“Lancashire really put it up to us at times,” he said.

“With English teams you really just don’t know what to expect from them. When they travel across the water they can be pretty determined and they really played some good hurling.

“At half time we spoke about having to push on and take our chances when they came. We were behind but we soon drew level and then thankfully we started to push on and kept Lancashire out from adding to the scoreline.”

Manager Joe Baldwin, meanwhile, revealed some mixed news on the injury front.

“We have Sean Corrigan back which is a major help, he was travelling for quite a while, so at present we are using him as a sub. Daniel Teague is also slowly coming back from injury.

“Aidan Flanagan is very close to making it back for this weekend, while Sean McKendry is touch-and-go with a back injury.”

On the downside, Baldwin said that Francie McBrien won’t hurl again this season.

“Francie is a big, big loss to us, he has been really unlucky with injuries and he has been a great servant to us down through the years.”