March 19, Brewster Park, Enniskillen

Whatever small chance had remained after Cork was extinguished in Enniskillen when Fermanagh recorded what, to my knowledge at least, was their first victory over Dublin at senior level. I may be mistaken about that but no one else seems to recall any other occasion either.

It was also the first match of the year that I was unable to attend. The reason being that it clashed with our second match in the Eddie Barron Shield which was in Isle's ground against Whitehall Colmcilles. We won handy enough and I played for most of the second half. To what effect it is difficult to say. I managed to upend the full back and to pull on a ball that came to one of our forwards who scored a goal so I was happy enough with myself.

The bare facts of the Fermanagh game would seem to indicate that Dublin were a bit unfortunate not to have emerged with at least a draw given that Mossy missed a close in free at the death. Prior to that he had managed to miss a penalty. Fermanagh people will not mind, however, and Dublin became merely the latest of significant scalps to be hung outside the tepee of a county that has proven that it has serious intentions of at least matching its wonderful run of 2004 that brought it to the All Ireland semi-final.

For sentimental reasons, I had acquired a Fermanagh jersey which I used to wear running to work. As the Summer wore on I was regularly beeped at and the occasional passing motorist would roll down the window and roar "Up Fermanagh". One evening an 'IL' reg even slowed down beside me. "Where abouts are you from?" enquired the woman in the passenger seat. "Finglas". She looked at the driver in puzzlement before turning back to me with a smile. "Go on Fermanagh". And off they went.

That was all very well and fine when they were beating the likes of Cork and Armagh. It was a different story when they were effectively putting an end to whatever hope Dublin had of qualifying for the League play-offs. Not that it dimmed my fondness for Fermanagh of course.

I had been convinced since last Autumn that Dublin needed to advance to the play-off stage if they were to mount a serious challenge for the All Ireland in 2006. Not for the prestige of winning the competition, although that would not have been scoffed at, but more for the opportunity it would present to play more matches of a high calibre prior to the championship.

The league itself is clearly viewed with a good deal more seriousness by all of the contenders in these times. Once it was almost as though the likes of Kerry won it by default. In the last six years, however, the competition has been won twice each by Kerry and Tyrone and once by Armagh and Mayo. Both Kerry and Tyrone have also won the double in 2003 and 2004. Indeed it can be no accident that Dublin's poor record in the competition - just one final appearance in the past 13 years - has coincided with their failure to even reach an All Ireland final since 1995. The lesson would appear to be, therefore, that teams need to be competitive in the league if they are to make a serious challenge for the big prize. Whether that theory again reflects upon Dublin's prospects this year remain to be seen.