Fermanagh and Armagh playing catch up in Div 2

National Football League Division Two

Fermanagh v Armagh

Saturday, Brewster Park, 7pm

FERMANAGH and Armagh will be hoping to make up some lost ground as they meet in Saturday night’s re-fixed Division Two clash at Brewster Park.

Last Sunday’s scheduled Enniskillen encounter was surprisingly the only victim of Storm Jorge, and perhaps that has ramped up the significance of this clash.

Although they have a game in hand on those around them, the league table would have made difficult reading for the Erne county as they are now cut adrift at the bottom following wins for Kildare over Laois and Clare against Cavan.

Likewise, Armagh were knocked out of the promotion spots and are attempting to close a two-point gap on leaders Roscommon.

Armagh assistant manager Jim McCorry is certainly calm about the situation though.

The Orchard county were informed of the postponement before setting off for Enniskillen last Sunday and they instead engaged in a very positive training session.

“Every game in this division is going to be tight for everybody, nobody is running away with it,” McCorry said.

“Fermanagh are sitting on two points at the bottom but they should be sitting on six points in fairness.

“They lost two games that they could have won (Westmeath and Cavan), so all the games are very close and just going either way.

“You could end up winning a game and be sitting in the top two or lose a game and be sitting around the bottom two.

“It’s just the way this league is, no matter if you have a game in hand or not you just have to win your games.

“By the time we welcome Roscommon to the Athletic Grounds next weekend it will be a level playing field again in terms of games played.”

McCorry did say that their preference would have been to play last Sunday and have this weekend free, but again he stressed that it was no major issue.

“We were okay going into last week’s game in terms of injuries,” he said. “Yes we had a couple of knocks, everyone gets knocks at this time of the year with the ground the way it is and everyone going the full hog at training.

“The only real disadvantage is that you had a week’s break last weekend as opposed to next weekend.

“You have that break going into the Fermanagh game but then you don’t for the next match. It means you’re going three weeks on the trot because we have no further breaks.

“The bottom line is that we are focussing on this game. That old adage that managers and coaches say, you have to really take it one game at a time.”

This will be the fourth league or championship meeting between Armagh and Fermanagh since McCorry came on board in November 2017.

Each side has won one game while there was also at draw in the league two years ago. Armagh have yet to win in Enniskillen in that time outside of the McKenna Cup.

“It’s always a tough ask for any team to go to Fermanagh,” said McCorry.

“Like ourselves at the Athletic Grounds, they have a proud record there. Everyone looks at their home ground at a fortress, Fermanagh no less than anyone else.

“At this time of the year the pitch is going to be softer too so it’s going to be a really tough encounter for both sides.

“We all need the points going into the last two games so they will be coming hard at us.

“They have improved a good bit this year. The reports are that they are playing a more attractive brand of football, scoring more and opening up more, but still with that solid defence.”