There was disappointment for the minors who lost to Monaghan on Sunday.

There had been great hope for this minor team but a comfortable six point half time lead was surrendered by the Fermanagh boys as they failed to score in the second half.

Their manager, former Fermanagh star, Kieran Donnelly, could not mask his disbelief;

"I thought we could kick off the second-half with our two goal lead, especially after not playing well in the first half," the Brookeboro man commented, "but, it just didn't happen for us."

Fermanagh had gone six points clear after Tomas Corrigan had netted twice, once from the penalty spot. But they never got going in the second half. A failure to deliver quick early ball and an inability to counter the sweeper tactic employed by Monaghan were two reasons for their failure but another was the introduction of Ciaran Hughes, the Monagahan captain who is just back from a broken hand. Donnelly agreed with the influence of the talented midfielder.

"Ciaran Hughes, who I would rate the best footballer in Ulster at that level, made the difference when he came on for them," stated Donnelly although he was also quick to point out the fact that his side were simply not at the races;

"We made basic mistakes, giving the ball away and giving them time to filter back. That was the frustrating thing; simple things that went wrong. But, fair play to Monaghan, they had their homework done.

"They crowded us out. They knew we were a small team and they knew we had to play the perfect ball to get a score."

His opposite number, Bernie Murray was obviously delighted with the result and confirmed that he was confident that his side could turn the half time deficit around;

"I knew we could turn things around. We were far the better team for the first 20 minutes and we knew we had a couple of men to come into the game to influence the match."

Murray explained how their pre match game plan came to fruition;

"We had decided before the game we would play against the breeze in the first half, and we felt we had plenty in reserve for the second-half if we got a bit of momentum. Obviously, we had to get the scores, but we were confident we would get over the line"

Bitter disappointment for the minor team then and after all the work and preparation that they put in this will be a particularly bitter footballing lesson to learn.