Fermanagh manager, Kieran Donnelly, wants his side to build on their hugely impressive win over Wicklow last weekend when they make the long trip south to Carlow. 

The victory over the Garden County saw Fermanagh rack up a huge 3-16 but also limit Wicklow to only eight points, five of them from frees.

Donnelly wants the same and more against a Carlow side that hit an impressive 2-17 in their opening game against Laois in the Tailteann Cup.

The opening-day victory was a stark contrast from last year when Fermanagh scuppered a strong winning position to allow Wexford to snatch a draw.

But with some clinical finishing in the second half, Fermanagh were never likely to allowed the feat to be repeated.

Now it is about maintaining those levels according to Donnelly: "The biggest challenge is backing that performance up and that’s what were striving to get better at is consistency so we are very determined to back it up.

"And probably the big thing is the fact Carlow scored 2-17 against Laois. [That] really focusses the mind again. You can't take any team for granted at this level but especially a team that scores 2-17."

Looking at Carlow, Donnelly is well aware of the threats they possess but believes if his side can play with the intensity they showed against Wicklow they should be able to contain the Division Four side.

"I thought we were solid on Saturday and again it will be more of the same. Carlow are defensive themselves. They set up that way against Laois throughout the game.

"The one thing that is notable is they created several goal chances. They have a lot of direct runners and they have pace in their half-forward line. It's up to us to nullify that. We are going to have to be very much on it.

"I do think Carlow will bring a different challenge in possession. They’ll be very much similar to Wicklow out of possession. In possession, they definitely have pace throughout their team."

If Fermanagh are able to contain those threats, it will be then up to the players to make the most of their chances.

Fermanagh missed four goal chances in the first half against Wicklow before Sean Cassidy and a quickfire double by substitute Conor Love in the second half.

Donnelly is hoping for his side's second-half scoring prowess this Saturday: "The stats at half time were daming on us in terms of what shots we were forcing.

"And the second-half, we hit an 83 per cent shot to score [ratio].

"We scored 3-07 of 12 shots. That was a pleasing stat for us so we just have to try to make better decisions in key moments in front of goals."

Another pleasing part of the game was Fermanagh's higher levels of intensity and quality.

Experience of playing in Division Two against a team that struggled in Division Three showed.

Donnelly will be expecting this again on Saturday afternoon: "We did mention that to the players. We have had good exposure of playing better teams and we had to bring that energy into the game. I felt we did that. That was probably the most pleasing thing that we kicked on in the second-half.

"That’s from playing at a higher level. It just forces you to do things faster because if you don’t you are going to be caught out."

A victory on Saturday will more or less guarantee Fermanagh's passage from the group and leave them in pole position to top it, with Carlow having drawn with Laois in their opener.

But Donnelly is taking nothing for granted and expects a tough challenge for his Fermanagh side. And he knows how important it was to get that opening day win.

"We drew the first game here last year so we knew it was important to win today and it gives us that bit of a bounce going down. It will be tough, any time we played them back in our time it was physical and competitive, especially down there, so we’ll expect nothing different."