Dublin don’t intimidate us, warns Pete McGrath

He can’t promise a victory, but Pete McGrath is promising that his young Fermanagh team won’t be intimidated by Dublin on Sunday.

It’s been 21 years since the Rostrevor man arrived in Croke Park with a game-plan, and a team, good enough to take out the Dubs.

But he has big-match experience in his DNA, as Down’s 1994 All-Ireland final victory proved, and he insists that while Fermanagh are not used to operating at the top level, they won’t be overpowered or overawed by Jim Gavin’s rampant outfit.

“They may be a bit stronger than us physically, but in my view it is no way men against boys. No way.

“It might be men against young men, but not men against boys.

“If you let any team intimidate you by their reputation or by their quality, then you’re on a beaten docket right away, and we are not going to be intimidated.

“No team is infallible — ask Jim Gavin that. We all know Dublin are a talented team and much more experienced than we are. They are further down the line, but we will go and challenge these guys.

“If we went down there and lay down in front of them, I think Dublin would be disappointed. So we’re not going to disappoint them.”

McGrath’s positivity is one of the reasons Fermanagh are getting ready to play a sixth championship game of the summer.

He’s had no time to dwell on the achievement of taking the county back to the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals for the first time since 2004, and as a consequence, little time to prepare for the awesome challenge that awaits them on Sunday.

One thing he does have going for him, however, is a well-organised defensive system that has been in place for most of the season.

So while Westmeath drastically altered their formation ahead of the Leinster final against Dublin, Fermanagh are in no need of a quick-fix of that ilk.

“You might tweak structures a bit depending on who you’re playing, but the basic formula has to remain the same,” said McGrath.

“If we try to do a u-turn in six days to face Dublin, that would be, I think, disastrous. It would have untold damaging circumstances.

“We’d like to think that the way we have been playing, in comparison to last season, gives us a lot more defensive stability, our defensive record would show that.

“It hasn’t left us bereft of attacking ideas either, so we’re trying to develop a way that minimises scores against us and maximises scores for us and I think we’ve been fairly successful.

“We can’t, and don’t propose to, do anything different on Sunday, because that would be crazy.”

McGrath is optimistic his midfielder and captain Eoin Donnelly will be fit despite limping off against Westmeath last Saturday with a hamstring injury in the second half. McGrath has a clean bill of health otherwise.

“I know where we’re trying to take this team and where we’re trying to take Fermanagh football and this is a major landmark on that journey,” he added. “So we’ll definitely relish it and embrace the challenge that Sunday poses.”