Fermanagh will return to the All-Ireland Junior final at Croke Park on Sunday, August 4, as they look to repeat their success in 2020.

After what felt like a dominant opening half from the Erne side, they only led by two points at the break with six wides and a number of goal chances missed with manager CJ McGourty aiming for improvement when they take on Louth.

“Yeah, we should have been further ahead at halftime, without a doubt,” he said after the game.

“I think it was 24 attacks to their 12 as well. Obviously that’s why there were so many wides but yeah, we weren’t clinical enough in the first-half which left them in the game.

"That’s one of the things we will definitely be working on from now until the final, is the wides. There were three messages at halftime, it was very simple. Start being clinical upfront, we know we had around nine missed goal chances.

"That was the main message at halftime, we were getting the ball up there enough and then the second message was just about tracking runners from deep and we still failed a wee bit in the second half to do that but we’re happy to be there.

"It's all about the result in the semi-final.”

McGourty was pleased with his side’s timely response to both Limerick goals as Aoife McCabe’s major came just a minute after Róisín Ambrose’s palmed effort while Smyth’s second-half penalty followed just seven minutes after Deborah Murphy’s strike.

“We have a lot of belief in this team, they’re a good team,” McGourty added.

“I suppose you always doubt because if you think of the heartbreak they’ve had over the last three or four years with last-minute goals and so on. The goals they got in the first-half, we responded with 1-01 straightway.

"The goal they got in the second half, I think there was only a few minutes between the second (Fermanagh) goal, so we’re very, very pleased that they didn’t panic, they just got back into a rhythm and there was a lot of twists and turns to that game and we’re just thankful to be out on the right side of it.”

When asked about his nerves in the final moments, McGourty responded: “Not good, to be honest with you.

"But, look we’ve always believed in them. The referee played eight and a half minutes extra there which doesn’t help the heart. But, we ground it out in the end, I think we just about deserved it.

"There’s a lot of improving to do for the final.”

Sunday’s result means it is a chance of more silverware for the former Antrim star in his first year in charge as he looks to add to the Ulster Junior Championship attained over Derry this year.

“I have an excellent management team, it's not all on me. Kane (Connor) has got them real fit, Conor (McGovern) does unbelievable video work which helped us steal a couple turnovers and even the frees, we focused on them dropping short over the last couple of weeks and you can be caught on the hop if you're not ready for that,” McGourty concluded.

“We were well prepared today and it’s an outstanding achievement for the whole group because there’s a lot of new girls on that panel as well. But first year as management I’m really happy and we’re going back to Croke Park which is great too.”