PETE McGrath intends to build on what he described as “a good solid season” with Fermanagh after he was formally ratified to continue as senior football team manager for the 2016 season.
In the wake of Jim McCorry’s exit there had been speculation that the popular Rostrevor clubman would return to his native Down for a second spell as manager, but that has been quashed after McGrath was reappointed in the Erne county.
“There was speculation (about Down) but at no stage was any contact made with me, nor did I expect there to be,” he said.
“As I said a couple of weeks ago, I’m managing Fermanagh and I did expect to be reappointed and since then we’ve met the players, we’ve had a number of team management meetings and we’ve spent some time putting down ideas to improve the environment in which we work.
“We want to get a blueprint in place to push the thing forward given the fact that we had a good, solid season in 2015.”
Many Fermanagh fans would argue that 2015 was much more than “solid” given that McGrath’s men gained promotion to Division Two and reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
McGrath says the challenge facing him and his players now is to improve on what was a promising seasons– something he fails Fermanagh has failed to manage in recent times.
“In 2008 Fermanagh reached the Ulster final and they had a good season in 2004 when they reached the All-Ireland semi-final,” he recalled.
“But the years subsequent to those seasons were disappointing, there was no progress made – the county actually fell into a mini-decline - so it’s incumbent on us to make sure that doesn’t happen in 2016.
“We’re in a highly-competitive Division Two along with four other Ulster teams, the Ulster Championship, being what it is, is always competitive so if we’re going to make the progress that we’re looking for and get up to a higher level again a lot of hard work has to be done in the weeks and months ahead.
“I had a meeting with the players last week and I detected enthusiasm and renewed confidence and they’re certainly looking forward to 2016. Underlying that is the realisation that it’s going to take a lot of commitment, a lot of hard work and a lot of investment in terms of time and energy and effort.
“Without that all the feelgood factor we got this year will mean very little. The challenge for us is to make sure that the progress that was made is not frittered away and we’re determined not to let that happen.”
McGrath explained that he is mulling over the possibility of bringing a new face into his management team. His current backroom will remain intact and he hopes that the players will all sign on for another season too.
“No-one has told me that they’re not staying on board,” he said.
“Our squad is a young squad but there are a number of experienced players there- the likes of Ryan McCluskey and Niall Cassidy. Those are two really, really good footballers who both contributed enormously in 2015.
“Ryan was at our team meeting, Niall was unable to attend, but there’s no indication that anyone is unwilling to continue in 2016. Hopefully all the players will continue.”
