Fermanagh will meet Derry in this year’s Ulster Junior Championship Final as they look to bounce back from missing out on promotion to Division Three.

The Fermanagh side lost 2-08 to 1-10 in Dundalk against Carlow in the Division Four league semi-final at the end of March after winning six of their seven games to finish top in the initial stages of the league.

The Erne side will now play Derry this Saturday at 2pm in Augher for this year’s Junior title.

Despite a disappointing end to their league campaign, coach and selector Kane Connor now says the team are ready to return to action under manager CJ McGourty. 

“Everyone is kind of fit and healthy, hopefully we’ll have a full squad come the weekend but Tuesday and Thursday will be our last two sessions before the game, so, we’ll get our messages across and tell them to enjoy it,” Connor said.

Fermanagh defeated Derry when the two teams met in league action on March 3 with a 1-14 to 2-07 victory as Derrygonnelly’s Eimear Smyth scored 10 points. 

“It was a good game in the league, a lot of people would be looking at it and kinda just thinking we should be winning this game but we’re not letting the girls take it for granted, it’s not going to be easy,” Connor added. 

“You can't just be handed the trophy so, it will be a good challenge and going by the league game, it was nip and tuck for long periods and thankfully in the end we pulled away from them. 

"It should be a good tight game and hopefully, the girls can learn from the last number of games after the Derry game and the defeat that we had in the (league) semi-final as well. 

"That could help towards getting the girls over the line.” 

After an unbeaten league campaign, with six victories and a draw with Carlow, they would then go on to play the Barrowsiders in the league semi-final in a 1st vs 4th format.

Carlow ran out winners by a single point to deny Fermanagh promotion with their first loss of the campaign. 

“It was devastating, a very hard one to take for the girls to be honest,” Connor said on the loss. 

“There wasn’t much really we could say. What do you say at that stage? We gave them a week or two to themselves and they came a bit fresher and addressed it then sat down and watched it. 

"It was a game we probably should have won too on the day but difficult to take. It wasn’t easy getting them geed up again, but they’ve put it behind them now, moved on and hopefully now they can use that bit of motivation now in the next couple of weeks and pick up an Ulster and an All-Ireland.” 

It was a bitter pill to swallow for McGourty’s side but there were still plenty of positives to take from the campaign continued Connor: “I thought it was brilliant now, slow to start. We sat down and watched games back and there was things to improve.

"We lost one bloody game in the whole league and still didn’t get promoted. 

"It’s frustrating but I’ve still seen enough of the girls this last year that, I know for a fact, they shouldn’t be in that division.

"But they can't take anything for granted, every game they have to give their all, and this next couple of weeks they will do that and hopefully it will be worth it, in the end up.”