Football

Fermanagh's Ryan Jones happy to juggle pharmacy and football

Co-owner Ryan Jones (left) pictured at the opening of RJS Pharmacy in Drumshanbo alongside Joe Brolly, co-owner John Slowey and Karl Scollan of Gala Shop
Co-owner Ryan Jones (left) pictured at the opening of RJS Pharmacy in Drumshanbo alongside Joe Brolly, co-owner John Slowey and Karl Scollan of Gala Shop Co-owner Ryan Jones (left) pictured at the opening of RJS Pharmacy in Drumshanbo alongside Joe Brolly, co-owner John Slowey and Karl Scollan of Gala Shop

FERMANAGH footballer and pharmacist Ryan Jones says his new store in Drumshanbo can’t keep up with the supply and demand for hand sanitisers and face masks following the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Jones teamed up with his life-long friend John Slowey to open new premises, called RJS Pharmacy, in the Co Leitrim town before Christmas while still juggling his club and inter-county careers.

The Derrygonnelly clubman says government messaging over the new respiratory flu virus that is sweeping across the globe has trickled down to every part of the community.

“We’ve run out of hand sanitisers, they can’t be got,” said Jones.

“Any time they come back in they’re literally gone within seconds. We have other anti-bacterial hand washes, alcohol wipes, Dettol wipes, things like that. If you’re fit and healthy, you’re fine; it [Coronavirus] affects people that maybe have a weak immune system and the elderly. They are the people we need to look out for.

“Over the past while, we’ve had a lot of people asking for face masks in, so we’re stocking them too.”

Jones, who qualified in pharmacy through Queen’s University, says he hasn’t changed any of his habits since the outbreak other than regularly washing his hands.

“I wash my hands a few times per day,” he said.

“If you’re dealing with tablets and counting out tablets you wash your hands regularly anyway, especially when you’re dispensing antibiotics to children.”

GAA pundit Joe Brolly was on hand to help open Jones and Slowey’s premises in the town on December 11 and while there are greater time commitments at the pharmacy Jones has no intentions of quitting the inter-county scene prematurely.

“I get cover for the two pitch sessions we do during the week; you can’t be missing those sessions… and then I’d stay on other days,” Jones said.

“A lot of counties do their gym sessions collectively. I was reading that Antrim have changed it up a wee bit by doing their gym sessions before their pitch sessions in order to accommodate more players.

“We still have our collective sessions but ‘Ricey’ obviously understands that it’s not possible for me to be back in Enniskillen for 6.30pm when I don’t finish work until 6.30pm. So I get my gym sessions in myself and try and work it so I’m there for the pitch sessions.

“‘Ricey’ is good that way as he’s not long finished playing himself.”

The former St Michael’s Enniskillen student added: “I still feel I’ve something to offer at county level, I enjoy it and I was excited about ‘Ricey’ coming in this year as well as a lot of new players coming in. We’d a pretty good run with the club so I didn’t have a lot of training to do to get back up to that level of fitness.”

Despite sitting at the foot of Division Two and staring relegation in the face, Jones feels the Ernemen can still pull themselves to safety in their remaining games against Armagh (tomorrow), Clare (a) and Laois (h).

Horrendous weather conditions have turned some NFL games into a lottery this year, with Jones commenting: “Apart from the Kildare game on the first day of the League, the weather has been terrible in our games.

“We played Westmeath in horrendous conditions, there was a hail storm during the Roscommon game and we obviously played Cavan and we didn’t know whether the match was going ahead or not. But, it is what it is – it’s the same for everybody.

“The thing about the National League is it’s the best competition because every team in the division is more or less around the same level and it makes the games very competitive, very exciting, you don’t know what way they’re going to go, and you see that in the table.

“One win and all of a sudden that team is looking up towards promotion; one loss and you’re looking at relegation.”