AFTER last year’s Ulster Championship quarter-final defeat to Down, Ryan McMenamin cast doubt on his future as Fermanagh manager, stating he wasn’t sure if he’d be back.

It had been a rotten climax to the season; just a few weeks beforehand, they were relegated from Division Two in difficult circumstances as a Covid-19 hit the camp prior to their penultimate league clash against Clare.

As far as excuses go for losing an absolutely crucial league clash, it’s a pretty solid one, but McMenamin seemed to suggest after the curtain was drawn on their season that the commitment from the panel wasn’t where it should be, stating matter-of-factly that “players have to ask themselves if they are happy to sit on a 26 or a 32 panel, or happy to go through the motions.

Small county or not, you want the best players but you want the players who want to be there and are going to put in the work.”

Their league fate had been practically sealed before the western world started worrying about ‘the coronavirus’ anyway – a time when you’d get a pretty funny look heading into a shop with a mask on.

The Erne county lost four of their opening five matches in Division Two, but in fairness they were generally pretty competitive, the exception being a disappointing performance against Armagh.

Part of the problem was a certain toothlessness up front, exacerbated by Sean Quigley’s decision to take some time out.

During the Rory Gallagher era, the emphasis was on packing their defence, and they some luck with that, reaching the Ulster final in 2018, but it seemed like there was a disjointedness in the first year of Ryan McMenamin’s tenure; the desire was there to play a more expansive style of football, but they averaged a miserly 10 points a game during the league.

While they were relegated, the camp seemed in decent enough form ahead of their Ulster Championship clash against Down. On paper, it was a favourable draw, and the first half was almost entirely even – Down mustering 24 attacks to Fermanagh’s 23.

Tomas Corrigan did well in attack, and they trailed by only a point at the break, but Caolan Mooney’s goal early in the second half was a real sucker-punch from which they never really recovered. It’s also notable that they reverted to a defensive style of play for the match, and rather than being indicative of  flexibility, it was perhaps more suggestive of a team that didn’t really know what they were about. Yet all the same, a new season brings new hope and the only way is up, surely?

Pressure on to deliver 

UNDER pressure? Ryan McMenamin cuts the most relaxed figure imaginable, so it’s hard to imagine he’s feeling too stressed out by the prospect of being without a few of his most important players this year. But a few defeats in Division Three could see the former Tyrone defender feeling queasy all of a sudden – relegation to Division Four isn’t even worth thinking about at this moment in time.
It does seem like a make or break season for McMenamin – two poor seasons in-a-row could leave his position under threat, but if he’s able to show that he’s making strides towards building a new and promising team, the Fermanagh fans will be content enough.

Plenty of new faces while Quigley returns 
FOR some teams, this section could write itself (much the same as last year, couple of new additions, and that’s basically it). For Fermanagh, however, a bit of digging needs to be done. For example, in last year’s championship encounter against Down, they were missing eight of the players who had played the previous year against Monaghan, and there’s more big changes this time around.

Ryan McMenamin will be without the services of some of Fermanagh’s most well-known footballers, namely Ryan and Conall Jones and Corrigan brothers Tomas and Ruairi. The Cullens are also unavailable. Those losses can’t be underestimated, but they’ve had plenty of time to come to terms to it thanks to the lockdown over the last few months (the lockdown had to be good for something, we suppose).

A number of new players have been brought into the camp, unsurprisingly. Sean Quigley, who’s been their main score-getter for much of the last decade, has returned after a year’s absence, which should soften the blow of Tomas Corrigan leaving.

A couple of other experienced players have decided to have another crack at it, including goalkeeper Christopher Snow – who was part of the Ederney team which won last year’s  Senior Championship – and Tiarnan Daly, who was part of the Derrygonnelly team which lost the final. Conor Love, who was very impressive in Enniskillen Gaels’ run to the Intermediate title, has been called into Ryan McMenamin’s provisional league panel, as have teammates Fergal Quinn and Eoin Beacom.

A few other members of the all-conquering Hogan Cup team, namely Joe McDade, Garrett Kavanagh and Pól McKervey are on board right now, while Belnaleck’s Conor McCauley and Maguirebridge’s Niall Carson are among other new faces. Other younger players worth noting are goalkeeper Sean McNally, corner-back Luke Flanagan and wing-back Josh Largo-Ellis. Time will only tell whether the transition we see before us will be successful.