Football

Fermanagh back like a 'herd of bullocks' to prepare for Division Three challenge

Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin says his team wants to "put their best foot forward" this year. Picture Margaret McLaughlin.
Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin says his team wants to "put their best foot forward" this year. Picture Margaret McLaughlin. Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin says his team wants to "put their best foot forward" this year. Picture Margaret McLaughlin.

THE Fermanagh players – including experienced duo Tiarnan Daly, Chris Snow and Hogan Cup winner Conor Love - will run out like a “herd of bullocks” when they take the field for training on Monday night, predicts manager Ryan McMenamin.

Like their counterparts across the country, the Erne players will be delighted and relieved to make a long-awaited start to the 2021 season and McMenamin’s immediate focus will be the National League campaign in Division Three North which includes a challenging programme of fixtures starting with a home game against Longford.

After that Fermanagh make the trip to Derry where they come up against former player and manager Rory Gallagher’s Oak Leaf county side and they finish off against Ulster champions Cavan. All-in-all, McMenamin’s side have no shortage of challenges to prepare for.

“The boys will be glad to get back to it, they’ll be like a herd of bullocks running out onto the field,” joked Tyrone All-Ireland-winner McMenamin.

McMenamin picked a provisional panel at the start of the year which he will cut down before the League begins. He has experienced duo Daly and Snow back in harness while the talent of former St Michael’s, Enniskillen star Love will be a boost to his side’s attacking options. Derrylin clubman Danny Leonard is another who’ll hope to make an impact this year.

“We have a lot of players in and we’re hoping to get a good look at them over the next couple of weeks,” said McMenamin, who will be without Ryan and Conall Jones and the Corrigan brothers Tomas and Ruairi.

McMenamin was the assistant-manager when Rory Gallagher guided his native Fermanagh to the Ulster final (the county’s first in a decade) in 2018. Since then Gallagher has moved on to Derry who missed out on promotion last year and will be determined to do better this time around.

“It’s no disrespect to the southern end of Division Three but we have the tough end in the North,” said McMenamin.

“We’ve Derry, Longford and Cavan so it’s going to be a tough division and we know that Rory will have Derry absolutely flying but we’re looking forward to it. They’ll be tough games – Longford had lost six or seven players last year and they’ve come back into the panel again this year. They are very good footballers and you don’t need to talk about Cavan - they’re Ulster champions.

“So it’s going to be a very competitive division and most matches are going to be Championship intensity because if you lose one game it puts you on the back foot.

“But we’ll take one game at a time, we have a young team, a young squad and hopefully the boys can learn very quickly.”

Fermanagh won just one game in the League last year and were relegated four points adrift of second-from-bottom Cavan. The Erne county’s sole win came against the eventual champions Roscommon and they lost twice by just two points, so there is ability in the squad and if McMenamin can get the best out of it, they’re capable of forcing their way into the promotion shake-up

“Every team in Division Three has eyes on getting up this year,” said McMenamin.

“Last year doesn’t really county, even though we played in Division Two. It was a battle for Down to get up from Division Three and Derry missed out so we’re taking nothing for granted. We’ll go out and give it our best and we’ll not really know where we are until we get through the first game.

“We want to put our best foot forward, I think the lads feel that we didn’t do that last year and they, and us as a management group, want to do that and we’re looking forward to getting started.”