By Mark McGoldrick

FROM parading the sidelines to strutting his stuff on the catwalk last Saturday night, at the Fermanagh Ladies fundraiser, James Daly is very much ready to be back on the touchline this Sunday.

The Fermanagh manager is focused on beating Limerick this Sunday and booking a ticket to the All-Ireland Junior Championship final in Croke Park.

“It is an All-Ireland semi-final,” he says proudly, “There is no more incentive needed than that, is there?

“Everything seems to be going in the right direction and everybody seems to be fit and ready to go,” says the Dromintee man.

Daly’s ladies make the trip to Kiltoom, Roscommon this weekend. Fermanagh have already played The Shannonsiders this season, losing 4-10 to 3-09 back in March.

Daly is confident that his team have learned and improved since that game;

“We know all about Limerick. We feel that we have a score to settle because we should have beaten them,” he recalls.

“We were five [points] up with 10 [minutes] to go and we lost by four. It is not a good scenario.

“We feel like we are a better team now than we were back then and we are ready to go.”

For a large number of the Fermanagh panel, many have never played in an All-Ireland semi-final before. Daly is urging his younger players to stay relaxed and not get caught up in the moment;

“We have been in a league semi-final this year, we have been in an Ulster final and now this is the All-Ireland semi-final.

“I will be telling the girls that you aren’t tying your boots any different today [on Sunday] or you won’t
be pulling on your shorts any different.

“It is just another game of football and we want to go and treat the game like that.”

To guide Fermanagh to Croke Park would be a major achievement for Daly and the team.

“The girls who we have came in have justified their jersey somewhere along the way this year and they have worked really hard and listened to everything that we have told them.

“They deserve it and it would be a nice cherry on the cake if we could win and get to the All-Ireland final and get to play in Croke Park.”