A relieved Fermanagh boss Kieran Donnelly said it was important that his side bounced back from the ignominy of conceding six goals to Louth in their last NFL game in Ardee. 

And, although relegated this heart-warming display will give the youthful Ernesiders a bit of a bounce ahead of the visit of Armagh to Brewster Park in three weeks.

“Yeah it was massive and it was as tough a week as we would have had as we felt we had a really good Division Two up to that and our performance levels had been really high.

“I said to the boys that I could not be prouder of them and that was as tough a week as you will have as a player in general.

“The response of the boys was excellent and that going forward will stand us in good stead and you learn more from your failures at times and I thought we worked really hard as a group to put those wrongs right and this was a massive result for us.”

When it is suggested that this was a lacklustre game in the opening half that erupted into life in the second half, he said: “It was cagey in the first half and you probably found that both teams were in similar straits from heavy defeats last week.

“We got the early scores which helped us and then we moved with more purpose on the resumption.

“The first goal was massive for us and Sean Cassidy has had a great season and he finished really well and he has been one of our best forwards all year and he is a great lad who has worked very hard to get to this level.

“But he has had a tremendous League and the goal was critical just to give us that bit of extra confidence going in at half-time that we could push on.

“And our second goal from Garvan Jones was more reflective of the scoreboard at that time as I felt we were creating the chances, and we left another goal chance behind us when it would have been easier to score.

“But I thought we created some great chances and some excellent scores and I thought as a team we really linked in that second half and we had the overlap runner and we took the extra pass as well.”

At one stage Fermanagh led by 2-09 to 0-06 but Donnelly remarked: “Cavan will always come back at you.

“They have quality players in Paddy Lynch and Oisin Brady, but I thought we were excellent defensively and we squeezed them out at key periods and we did not let them through small pockets of space and they had a lot of strong quality players coming at you at pace and I thought we closed them down really well and got bodies around their key men.”

And, up front, time after time when Cavan got within a goal of Fermanagh, Garvan Jones chipped in with vital points.

“That was the key as we got those points at the right time and I felt it would have been an injustice if we had lost it and Garvan was great and he has had a good league especially the last three or four games and I am just delighted for him as he has worked so hard.

“Him and Sean Cassidy have forged a good partnership and long may that continue.”

He added: “It was very important that we go into the championship on a positive note and we demanded that of the players, we trained really hard this week and we got a response on Tuesday, on Thursday and you find in those tough weeks that your family back you.

“We will park the league and now focus on Armagh.

“It is just three weeks away and that is a good thing, and you can bring the energy of this game into your prep for the championship.

“We have a number of experienced players out, but we hope to have Ryan Lyons, Johnny Cassidy and Darragh McGurn back out training over the next few weeks so that should strengthen our challenge.”