The bumpy road to success for Erne Gaels

By Michael McMullan

ULTÁN Kelm is in his 10th season of senior football with Erne Gaels but it hasn’t always been a success story. Not like now.

They take on St Eunan’s on Saturday in Brewster Park, after securing a third successive Fermanagh title. Before that, the Belleek side lost out in two finals.

“There is one thing in all of this – we do not take it for granted,” he said. “I just know how much that one championship (2023 breakthrough) meant to us.

“With the gap before since won the last one (1981), getting back-to-back was massive.

“Winning three in a row is just a credit to the group and where we’re at as a club.”

Kelm’s first championship taste was in 2017, which ended in a quarter-final exit at the hands of Derrygonnelly’s five-in-a-row team.

When they eventually reached a final, they ran into an in-form Enniskillen Gaels in 2022 and Kelm remembers the subsequent 2023 final defeat to Derrygonnelly.

“I hit the crossbar in the last minute,” he recalls.

A goal would’ve put them one up only for Shane McGullion to then kill the game with a second Harps goal.

“It was one of them things, you just never felt like it was going to happen” he said.

Now, with three county medals secured, Kelm reflects on what has fed into his side’s level of consistency.

“It comes from the know-how you get from going to the well so many times,” he said.

“Learning from those losses was massive. I suppose, collectively, we knew what they felt like. We knew it was something we didn’t want to happen again.

“The learnings you take from those games were massive. When you put them together and everyone is in the right mindset of wanting to do better, that’s what stands to us.”

Ulster has been a climb too. They were on the wrong end of a Scotstown hammering in 2024. Last year, they edged out Kingscourt in a belter before losing to Kilcoo in the semi-final.

“It’s a very different competition,” Kelm said of Ulster. “The Kingscourt game, we felt that was probably one of our best performances of the year.

High-quality

“You’re playing against such high-quality opposition,” he added of the Ulster challenge.

“Anyone coming out of their county is going to be a good team. The nature of having gone to the well for so many games, coming up through your championship, managing bodies presents a challenge as well.

“It’s more like the intercounty game in some ways,” Kelm adds. “The energy and the atmosphere around and the whole build up.

“When you walk in and you see the Ulster GAA logo there, it adds another feel to it too.

“It’s a competition that you love being a part of.”

Looking ahead to this weekend, Kelm knows what is coming down the tracks.

Former Fermanagh Kieran Donnelly is in charge of St Eunan’s. The familiarity works both ways. Erne Gaels manager Barry O’Hagan knows the Donegal scene well.

“They’re littered with county players. They’ve got quality all over the pitch,” Kelm said.

“They’ve got serious athleticism and they’ve experienced this competition before.

“For ourselves, yes, it’s about getting right now to have a big performance.

“Last year, we targeted getting a win and getting that monkey off the back.

“This year, I suppose it’s trying to get that one step further and get to a final.”