Five straight wins have placed Fermanagh in a commanding position at the top of the division three league table with just two rounds remaining.

Clearly the team has put promotion firmly within grasp but the prize has still not been secured. Hard on the heels come the two other candidates, Wexford and Down and this duo provide the opposition over the run in.

Fermanagh have their destiny in their own hands, one more win regardless of where it comes, will guarantee second division fare next Spring. It would of course be all the better if that win was to be collected next Sunday when Wexford come visiting.

It would mean that the final assignment away to Down in Newry on April 13th would be of no consequence. Having to travel to Pairc Esler looking for something hasn't a great deal to recommend it, especially since the Mournemen will also be looking for a result to clinch their top two slot.

The Newry encounter however is beyond the horizon for the moment, full concentration as far as Fermanagh are concerned over the coming days will be homing in on the tussle with Wexford.

With those five successive wins under their belt, Fermanagh will be in stout heart that they can indeed finish the job of work on Sunday. The team has performed better than even the most optimistic could have hoped for.

The five games played so far have all had their obvious difficulties, not least the fact that three of them were on away turf. But the hurdles have been cleared and cleared with a fair measure of confidence so it would be very frustrating to slip up when the finishing post is in sight.

The record against Wexford has been pretty good and we appear to be able to handle the Leinster county. Our last meeting with them, in the All Ireland qualifier last summer in Clones, in fact was to provide us with our sole success in what had developed into a miserable season.

And they previous year we had also overcome them, this time in Brewster Park.

But sequences are there to be ended and Wexford will think that it's time to end this particular one. In any case they will be coming into the game knowing that a defeat could well torpedo their promotion bid.

A defeat would at the very least leave them dependent on results in the final round. So they will be a totally committed outfit at the weekend.

PROLIFIC

For them the talismatic figure is Mattie Forde who is one of the best forwards in the country and during this latest league campaign he has again shown what a prolific marksman he is.

Against the tenacious Down defence he rapped in a goal and two points, against Sligo it was a contribution of eight from fourteen and against Longford it was a goal and six points.

Terrific marksmanship by any standards and Fermanagh will be all too conscious of the imperative need to police him.

But Wexford with just one point dropped so far are obviously more than a one man show. New manager Jason Byrne who at 31 years is the youngest inter county supremo in the country has fashioned a strong and competitive side which has the foundation of a sturdy defence based around full back Chris Morris and half back David Murphy.

Up front there is more than adequate support for Forde coming from wing half forward Adrain Flynn and full forward John Hudson.

Fermanagh team selection has been delayed until later in the week. Midfielder Mark Murphy was again troubled by a slight groin strain in the latter stages of last Sunday's Sligo game and no decision will be taken on him until much closer to the weekend.

Martin McGrath will be available again after serving his one month's suspension incurred for the straight red received in the Leitrim match.

Not a lot of change anticipated in the back division with the exception of the continuance of the goalkeeping rotation policy.

The lineout which started the Sligo game finished the seventy and there is no reason to start tinkering here. Up front it is much more fluid.

Here there has been a patchier performance both individually and collectively and the changes have been rung.

But having said that there have been some decent scorelines chalked up, the caveat being that perhaps too much has been supplied from midfield and half back. In the Sligo game there was to be a surprising number of scores coming from this source.

Still the forward play has been generally inventive, good support and approach work. Just a shade more of a cutting edge and things would really be looking up.

Strong hope then of shooting another victory.