Behind enemy lines

A FERMANAGH man, married to a Tyrone woman, living in Armagh. It may sound like the start of a bad joke but that’s the life Ruairi Corrigan is experiencing at the minute, and you won’t hear him complain.

Clonmore is the spot the Corrigans now call home and mixing it with the local crew has been fairly easy. This weekend, however, could push those pleasantries to the limit.

Both Tyrone and Armagh have had plenty to cheer about down through the years, but Corrigan is hoping the Erne County can spring an upset when they welcome Kieran McGeeney’s men to Brewster Park on Saturday.

Corrigan shared plenty of battles with the Orchard County when he wore the green and white of Fermanagh, but now that he’s settled in Clonmore, the club of Armagh legend Brendan Donaghy, he doesn’t have a bad word to say about them.

“I’ve been in Clonmore for six years now and there’s always a buzz around Armagh games,” said Corrigan, who played in the 2018 Ulster final for Fermanagh, the last time the county reached the provincial decider.

“The bus actually drove through Clonmore after they won the All-Ireland and I was probably the only person in the area that wasn’t draped in orange, and I’ll certainly have green on this week!

“It’s good craic and the Clonmore crew are huge Armagh fans.

“They travel everywhere for league games but hopefully they won’t be too happy travelling home on Saturday night.”

There was a stage in the not too distant past where Armagh and Fermanagh were big rivals. They competed at the same grade in the league for a number of years, and there were a few championship clashes along the way as well.

The two counties were in the same division in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Throw in championship meetings of 2017 and 2018 and that’s a lot of time spent together in a short space of time.

“There were a couple of years that we met Armagh in Division Three league finals and obviously league games as well and they were always tough battles,” Corrigan recalled.

“We played Armagh in the championship in 2018 under Rory (Gallagher). I was injured that day, but we managed to get a result that day which was maybe a surprise to many, but going into it we were confident and felt that we deserved the win.”

The mere mention of that 2018 encounter evokes bad memories for Orchard followers, who will tread lightly travelling to Enniskillen this weekend, but a Fermanagh victory would be a much bigger shock this time around.

Armagh, All-Ireland winners as recently as 2024, held onto their Division One status while Fermanagh will play Division Four football next season. The gap between the two counties has never been as big.

“Fermanagh, I know they’ve picked up a lot of injuries throughout the year, but they will be disappointed with how the league finished (suffering relegation to Division Four), but championship takes on a life of its own.

“You’d be hoping that, especially with home advantage, they would be able to put in a performance and see where that takes them but it’s a huge task.

“Armagh have been one of the top two or three teams over the last number of years and having not played overly well against Tyrone, they’ll probably be focusing on a big performance, so it’ll be up to Fermanagh to put it up to them.”

Corrigan is still lining out for Kinawley at club level, but the travel means he can’t make every training session. The Clonmore club welcomed Corrigan in with open arms, and he trains away with last year’s Junior Championship winners.

He’s happy with the setup at the minute and may even wear the green and yellow jersey in the future. “I’m a proud Kinawley man and a proud Fermanagh man so at the minute it hasn’t been something I’ve thought about,” Corrigan said of a potential club switch.

“It is difficult getting out of the house with two kids now and it is a wee bit trickier in that regard but thankfully Brendy Donaghy and James Grimley and the management team at Clonmore have been brilliant with me.

“Any night that I want to drop in and train with them, they’re very receptive to it and it’s very much appreciated. Put it this way though, if it doesn’t go well this weekend, I’ll probably have to go home for training!

“But if Fermanagh manage to pull off the win, then I’ll be the first man at Clonmore training on Monday night and I’ll be the last man gone.”