LISNASKEA manager John Reihill admitted that his side did not offer enough of an attacking threat as they lost out to Cavan champions Arva in the Ulster Club JFC semi final on Saturday in Clones.

The Emmetts had fared well in limiting a free scoring Arva for the majority of the contest and would have been content with things at the break with three points dividing the sides.

And it stayed that way until the final ten minutes when Arva eventually managed to put a cushion between the sides,

“It was disappointing because it was the end of the campaign,” said Reihill.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game but we were certainly in the game at half time at 0-05 to 0-02. I felt the first 15 minutes of the second half were very close and we were in the game at that time but it got away from us in the end..

“We were happy with our defensive display but getting forward was difficult and we didn’t get enough ball or support into the forward line,” he said.

Reihill had thought that Lisnaskea’s tactics had worked as they aimed to stay in the contest in the first half.

“That was the way we hoped the game would go, the idea was to stay in it. Arva are a first division team in Cavan and have been putting up big scores including in their previous game in Ulster.

“Their strength is their running ability and scoring and to hold that team to five points in the first half was a brilliant display by us. The difficulty was not taking our own chances, we had a big goal chance at the end of the half that we missed which was massive.

“We were still happy going in at half time because we knew if we gave the ball in to Joe (McDade) he could cause problems along with Sean (Keenan) but it never really materialised. Defensively, we were very proud of the way the lads performed but in transition and getting scores we were just not good enough on the day,” he accepted.

The defeat brought the curtain down on the season and while the loss was disappointing, they can look back on a year where they achieved their primary goal which was winning the Junior Championship to make a return to Intermediate for 2024.

“That was the aim. There was plenty of weeks of really hard training and they kept at it. We have a small enough group but the 22 or 23 that have been there have been committed.

“The year didn’t start that well for us as we had some difficult games and we didn’t have quite a few men through injury and then one of the boys got married and that disrupted us but progression since that has been good. That last seven or eight games there was a change in the team and it worked well. I think the boys responded really well.

“I hope they enjoyed the year, it is nice to get that wee bit of success and while it was not exactly where we wanted to be, now that we are in the Intermediate further test lies ahead,” he said.

He acknowledges though that they need more numbers if they are to continue to push on next year.

“Last year we lost Shane O’Hara who went to Canada, Cathal Caulfield works about Dublin and wasn’t able to commit and then Adam McKenna did his knee ligaments and we can’t afford to lose men like that on a regular basis, it is the opposite, we need more.

“It is very difficult to run with those numbers. There were three or four boys who were able to commit in Fermanagh but then were unable to commit for Ulster but you would like to think that there is more in a town like Lisnaskea. There might be a couple of younger lad to come through but it will be slow progress,” he said.