Kieran Donnelly will lead Fermanagh into a home quarter-final tie at Brewster Park in the Tailteann Cup after winning all three games in Group Three of the competition.
A comfortable win over Wicklow in Enniskillen was followed by victories on the road against Carlow and Laois with close endings to both, but it's job done for now.
Fermanagh will have to wait to find out their opponents with preliminary quarter-finals this coming weekend as Leitrim play Wicklow, Laois face New York, Limerick meet Tipperary and Antrim take on London.
“That was our target, at the start of the year, to finish top of the group,” Donnelly said after Saturday’s win.
“It gives you that extra week’s gap which is important because it’s been a long tough season. That’s something we have to take into this quarter-final, again, the same attitude that we’ve been training with over this past month.
"We look forward to it, we look forward to a home quarter-final at Brewster Park, so that’s a major positive.”
It was a nervy ending as Laois hit late points through Mark Timmons and Paul Kingston to bring it back to a one-point game but top defending by Ché Cullen and Sean McNally in injury-time saw Fermanagh see out the win.
“That’s our third championship win on the bounce which is always a good thing,” added Donnelly.
“I thought our scores in the second half were excellent, some really good team play. Just frustrated that we didn’t pull away, we felt when we went three up, we should have stretched the lead a couple of times, but, you know, I thought we showed good character, and our defence again was excellent because they have three or four really quality forwards.
"We’re probably used to the heat at this stage, but there’s no doubt it’s energy-sapping. I thought, at times, when we injected pace into the game they struggled with us, we just didn’t probably do it enough, maybe we just weren’t patient enough at times but we adapted well to it.”
Goals at key times laid the foundation for success at Pearse Park, as it felt like Fermanagh had an answer for everything Laois threw at them: “I think the timing of our goals was massive especially on a day like that, with that heat.
"It just gave you a platform again, I thought our response was really positive. We brought great energy, for Callum’s (Jones) goal, Johnny Cassidy broke lines, Shane McGullion was exceptional in his run for the penalty.
"We showed great pace and great quality especially in that last 10 minutes for a couple of our scores. The two goals were well worked.”
The Erne side joined Kildare, Sligo and Down in topping their groups as all four teams look to seal a place in the semi-finals next time out.
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