It was a much happier duo of Sean Maguire and his assistant, Syl Mulrone following last Saturday's do or die U-21 get-together at Lissan.

"We had 44 players out, which was a major improvement", Sean reported. "There were a number of players who had come along independent of those that the clubs had agreed on and, indeed, a couple of them showed up well'.

The Fermanagh U-21's play Down on 10th March, so with that in mind, the management team intend finalising the panel this Saturday.

"The weather conditions weren't favourable to enable us to get the extended game we had planned for", Sean explained. "Saturday will be the same format: the clubs with players we want to look at will be notified and, if any club has a player they feel is worthy of assessment, they should tell them to go along to Nissan for 11.30.

"We would like to get the panel down to 30, maybe 34 and then have a couple, maybe three or four, challenge games and, from those, get our 24 selected. But, we are moving in the right direction".

Sean was full of praise for his assistant, Syl Mulrone who, himself, is a former Fermanagh U-21 manager.

"He's a very experienced man", he said. "He has his apprenticeship well served. So, all in all, it was a very good week-end. Even some of the U-21's who are in the county senior panel turned up. I did ask them to be sure they were there as we need a team that is training and planning together".