By Colm Bradley
We should really try and savour the next ten days. After a 26 year wait we deserve to bask in the sunlight. The players however will not have that luxury. No sir! Basking or indeed any other type of misty eyed reflection will not be tolerated!
All focus must turn to the next game for the players, and it just so happens that the next game is an Ulster Final. The players will be approaching the next 70 minutes of football like they have approached every other 70 minutes of football they have played so far this year. There should be no - and indeed I don't expect there to be - fist thumping speeches about bringing the Anglo Celt back to the banks of the Erne for the first time. It's simply a game of football which has to be won. Two have been won already in this competition, now one remains.
In an article written in the Gaelic Life recently Jarlath Burns warned the Fermanagh team of some of the pitfalls they can expect coming up to the Ulster final.
The ex Armagh captain warned against getting caught up in the hype of the build up, while he also had advice on how the players should deal with the media.
'They need to have their heads together for the press night too,' The Silverbridge man said before elaborating, 'the media also have to find an angle. Lads could be attributed comments out of context or with a different slant to what they meant. This is where their PRO will have to be on her game.'
I cannot say I agree with him however. Why make the game bigger than it is? Why make it different? Why make the build up any different?
Players are creatures of habit, they like routine. The players and the Fermanagh management have had a good relationship with the press and crucially they have set up parameters that mean that before each big game this year they have had the same approach towards the media. Interviews are done in advance so players and management can relax and focus coming up to the big game and this has worked against Monaghan and it worked against Derry. If players don't feel comfortable speaking to the press that is fine, we interview somebody else. No pressure. So why suddenly get excited and start changing things now?
The first thing a sports psychologist will tell you is to keep everything the same coming up to a big game. Thankfully, from our point of view and indeed from the readers point of views the Fermanagh camp have kept things the same. And it gives me more hope for Sunday week.
When I cast my mind back to 2004 I try to remember the mindset that the players had going into each game. Against Tyrone we wanted to restore some pride. Against Meath we wanted to win one game. Against Cork the goal was to win in Croke Park. Against Donegal we wanted to prove we could beat an Ulster team. Against Armagh we wanted to prove we could beat a top tier team.
Before each of those games we had a clear individual goal, there were no thoughts of what stage of the competition we had reached or anything like that. Goals were short term and achievable. Things changed slightly for the Mayo game. Not that it was intentional, we tried to approach it as another game but the thought of an All Ireland final appearance, in hindsight, probably got inside our heads, despite the best attempts of management.
And we still almost pulled it off but had we been totally focused on the job in hand I think we would have beaten Mayo. But such is sport at the top level. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played one of the greatest Wimbeldon finals ever last week and as much as it was their fantastic abilities which made the match so memorable it was also their mental strength as well.
Fermanagh must have the right mental attitude on Sunday week and I believe they will. They seem like a team ready to collect an Ulster championship, although it is precisely because they will not let thoughts of what it will feel like to win the game enter their heads that they stand such a good chance of actually doing so.
They will be focusing on what is needed to be done to get to that final whistle with their noses in front. They will be thinking about performing, doing the simple things well, working hard and adhering to the game-plan.
This Fermanagh team is ready to win. We are ready to celebrate. Fingers crossed then.
