Lisnaskea manager John Reihill is hoping that the Emmetts can bounce back up to Intermediate football at the first time of asking as they look to land the Junior Championship title when they face Aghadrumsee this Sunday.

Lisaskea dropped into Junior last year but Reihill believes that if they can win on Sunday they are capable of going on to hold their own at Intermediate level next year.

The key though is to get the job done and get out of the Junior Championship straight away.

“I don’t think a club the size of Lisnaskea should be in the Junior championship but that’s where they are and they have to deal with it.

“In football, when you go down a division it is sometimes very hard to get back up unless you can do it immediately. Certainly Lisnaskea don’t want to be lingering in the Junior Championship in Fermanagh and I know this group of boys are definitely capable of competing in Division Two and in the Intermediate Championship if they stick together.

“It would be nice having gone down last year to come straight back up into the Intermediate Championship and I think as a club they can certainly compete at that level. That’s where they should be,” he said.

Following a slow start to the league, Lisnaskea didn’t threaten at the top end of the Division Two table but Reihill has been happy with how things have gone since then.

“The league campaign was slow to get off the ground but it ended up reasonable and preparations have gone well since that. We had close competitive games but you would expect that in the championship and performances have been generally okay.”

He knows though that they face a stern test this weekend against Aghadrumsee.

“We’ve played them two or three times already this year and all the games have been close. They have some decent players and their forward line for Junior football would be quite strong with Eddie Courtney, Dale Crudden and Eoghan McCabe in the inside line.

“They are strong around the middle of the field with Darren Kearns as well and they are a combative team. But we are hoping that on the day we will perform and I feel that if we do we have the winning of it,” he explained.

Aghadrumsee have the greater experience of these big games and Reihill acknowledges that Sunday is all about winning and building that winning mentality.

“With Lisnaskea being a young team it is getting across the line that counts,” he said.

“Aghadrumsee would have much more experience of playing in finals and in general would be much ore experienced that ourselves. We have one or two older boys like Mark Little and Mark Smyth but apart from that there is a group of three or four 27 year olds and then they are all under 23.

“These young boys haven’t had success with Skea so even to win the Junior Championship is a big thing.

“That winning mentality is so important and would get them on the road to having that wee bit of success and hopefully it would be able to develop from there.”