Fermanagh aim to end Ulster drought in Down game

Oisin Smyth will hope to help Fermanagh earn a first win in Ulster since the 2018 provincial semi-final victory over Monaghan

Oisin Smyth says home advantage will be "really important" to Fermanagh as they aim to achieve a first Ulster Football Championship win since 2018 in Saturday's contest against Down at Brewster Park (16:00 BST).

The Erne County have not won a game in the provincial series since Eoin Donnelly's last-gasp fisted goal earned them a dramatic 1-8 to 0-10 semi-final victory over Monaghan seven years ago.

"The home crowd get behind us [at Brewster Park] and hopefully we'll give it a good rattle on Saturday," Derrygonnelly club-man Smyth said of a contest which will be live on BBC Two NI and the BBC iPlayer.

"Antrim showed how important it [home advantage] is, whenever you have the crowd behind you and you put it up to teams physically. Those are the basics."

Both of Saturday's teams will play in Division Three of the Allianz Football League next season with Down suffering relegation despite beating Monaghan in the final round of Division Two fixtures and Fermanagh narrowly missing out on promotion.

Down's impressive display against Monaghan probably makes them marginal favourites but Fermanagh will quietly fancy their chances despite the expected absence of key forward Ultan Kelm, who has had a recurrence of the hip injury that has plagued his career.

In Kelm's likely absence, much responsibility will rest on Garvan Jones in the Fermanagh attack and Pierce Laverty could be given the task of attempting to curb the forward, who now is playing his club football for Leitrim Gaels after transferring from Derrygonnelly along with his brothers Ryan and Conall, who previously were part of the Erne County squad.

Jones hit four points in Fermanagh's narrow Division Three win over an Offaly team that eventually secured promotion with Erne County skipper Declan McCusker striding upfield to notch their goal that day.

Midfielder Joe McDade also had an impressive league campaign for the Ernemen as did goalkeeper Sean McNally but Smyth said everyone will have to perform if Kieran Donnelly's side are to end their seven-year Ulster drought.

"Down were very unlucky not to stay up in Division Two and it's a really competitive Division Two as we found out last year," added Smyth.

"Physically they are probably as good as anyone in the country, so we'll have to match that first and foremost before anything on Saturday."