Football

Fermanagh's Ryan McCluskey aiming for win to set up promotion push

Ryan McCluskey is aiming for victory over Galway. Picture by Colm O'Reilly
Ryan McCluskey is aiming for victory over Galway. Picture by Colm O'Reilly Ryan McCluskey is aiming for victory over Galway. Picture by Colm O'Reilly

Allianz National Football League Division Two: Fermanagh v Galway (tomorrow, 2pm, Brewster Park)

“MY first, my last, my everything,” as Barry White famously sang. For Ryan McCluskey, his first, last and everything of 2016 was Fermanagh’s late March draw in Galway.

Having been absent throughout their League campaign, his three-minute cameo in Cavan the week previous led to a start in Tuam in late March, where he soldiered through 70 minutes.

Two points down and a man down in injury-time, Fermanagh salvaged a draw that was to prove invaluable in keeping them up in Division Two.

Sunday evening felt good for McCluskey but by the time Monday morning came the pain had kicked in and his season was over.

“I got through it but basically couldn’t walk after it. I knew there was an issue, we knew there was something wrong, and it kind of came to a head,” says the veteran defender.

“In a way, I was glad something did happen and we were able to address it. At least we pin-pointed it. It would’ve been nice to have had it at the end of the year but it had to be done. I’ve had the chance to get back, that’s the lucky thing I suppose.”

He returned to the starting line-up in their McKenna Cup opener against Monaghan last month and so far, all has gone well.

The Enniskillen man was as polished as ever in the sweeping role last Saturday night in Newry to help get the Ernemen off to an emphatic winning start against Down.

That sets them up for the visit of Kevin Walsh’s Connacht champions to Brewster Park.

It’s been said ad nauseam how badly Fermanagh need a win in a game of major significance and given what this could mean for both their seasons, you could argue that tomorrow’s clash falls into that category.

“If we get a win this weekend, it would set us up in a great position for the last five games,” enthuses McCluskey.

“There’s no reason we can’t be pushing for promotion. It’s a massive game for this group of players, we need to look at promotion and be serious about ourselves, so it’s a massive test of character and hopefully one we can overcome.”

“I don’t know if last year’s campaign painted the right picture of how our League form was and where we ended up. It was an Ulster League last year with a lot of derbies.

“We had to take points on the last day, which we did against Tyrone. We could have gone up just as easily as we could have been relegated. It was a tough League last year.

“We played Galway and came back to rescue a point last year, but we threw away points last year. We looked at that and we’ve learnt from some of our mistakes. There’s still plenty of room for improvement.”

He retains his place in a team that sees just two changes from last week. It’s Chris Snow’s turn between the sticks after Thomas Treacy held the number one shirt last week, while Ryan Lyons comes in for Eoin McManus, who hit the Fermanagh goal in Páirc Esler.

Despite coming off just moments after entering the play during Ulster University’s Sigerson Cup defeat by UCD in midweek with a suspected hamstring injury, Eoin Donnelly is named as fit to start at midfield.

If it transpires that he does start, it would be a major plus for Pete McGrath. Donnelly’s blossoming partnership with Lee Cullen will be tested to the full by the athleticism Paul Conroy and Fiontan Ó Curraoin.

The latter returns in place of Michael Day in the only change from their 0-14 to 1-11 draw at home to fellow promotion hopefuls Cork last weekend.

Only Danny Cummins, who raised two white flags, scored from play of their starting forward line last week. They remain minus the Corofin contingent that will be in action at the Gaelic Grounds this afternoon.

If Donnelly is fit, it represents a real opportunity for Fermanagh to take a scalp. Without him, though, it’s a much more difficult assignment.

THE TEAMS

Fermanagh: C Snow; M Jones, C Cullen, C McManus; D McCusker, R McCluskey, B Mulrone; E Donnelly, L Cullen; A Breen, R Lyons, P McCusker; E Courtney, S Quigley, T Corrigan

Galway: R Lavelle; D Kyne, D Walsh, L Burke; G O’Donnell, G Bradshaw, J Heaney; P Conroy, F Ó Curraoin; T Flynn, D Comer, E Brannigan; D Cummins, B McHugh, S Armstrong