Can anyone stop the Harps?

Belnaleck

Management:

Colm Bradley, Aaron Quigley and Joseph Heavey.

Championship programme:

Fermanagh SFC quarter-final
Belnaleck v Ederney

Team News:

IT’S been a whirlwind few seasons for Belnaleck. They won the Intermediate Championship in 2018, won promotion to Division One last year, and almost caused the upset of all upsets (in Fermanagh club terms at least) when they brought Derrygonnelly to a replay in last year’s championship semi-final. The strange nature of this season hasn’t actually done them any harm as numbers at training are through the roof with players keen to get back at it after such a long period of inactivity. Manager Colm Bradley has been at the forefront of their success, but they have some really good players to go with that including Che Cullen, Darragh McGurn, Bryan Owens and Kane Connor, who will captain the side. Lee Cullen and Ciaran McBrien are away travelling, however, which is a considerable blow, while Ryan Cassidy is out with an ankle injury. On the flipside, the well is by no means dry as they have talented young players coming through the ranks like Fergal Keenan and Glen Treacy.

Derrygonnelly

Management:
Brendan Rasdale and Sean Flanagan

Championship programme:

Fermangh SFC quarter-final
Derrygonnelly v Roslea

Team news:

DERRYGONNELLY haven’t just proven themselves as the best team in Fermanagh over the last half-a-decade, but they’ve also shown themselves to be one of the top teams in Ulster. Last year they gave Kilcoo a serious fright in the Ulster Championship semi-final, and if anything they’re even stronger this year with the addition of some talented young players like Michael Glynn, who scored 1-6 in his debut performance against Tempo a few weeks ago. Other young players who are moving up the ranks are Conor Burns and Aaron Jones, who was Fermanagh u-17’s joint-captain last year, and there’s been no retirements since last year. So basically it’s all rosy in garden as they look to win their sixth championship title in-a-row. The Harps take on Roslea in the quarter-final in a repeat meeting of last year’s final, which Derrygonnelly won by 0-10 to 1-6. With all due respect to Roslea and the other six teams in the Senior Championship, it’s hard to see anyone stopping them. Ryan Jones is their championship captain this year while Michael Jones has that honour during the league.

Ederney

Management:
Michael Cassidy

Championship programme:

Fermanagh SFC quarter-final
Ederney v Belnaleck

Team news:

EDERNEY will be out for revenge in their championship opener as they have fresh memories of losing to Belnaleck at the same stage last year. John Irvin has retired, but perhaps the biggest change from last year has been the fact their home grounds are out of bounds for 2020. Their pitch is being resurfaced, so they’ve been playing their home games a few miles down the road in Tyrone club Dromore. It hasn’t hindered them as they’ve had a good start to the league barring last week’s disappointing defeat to Derrygonnelly. Elder statesman Martin McGrath has committed for another year, while at the other end of the age spectrum Paul McKervey, who played great stuff in St Michael’s Hogan Cup win in 2019, has been making a name for himself as a promising forward. They reached the championship final two years ago, but their main mission at this point of time is avenging that aforementioned defeat to Belnaleck. Declan McCusker will wear the captain’s armband.

Erne Gaels

Management:
Andrew Dolan

Championship programme:
Fermanagh SFC quarter-final
Erne Gaels v Kinawley

Team news:

IT was only a few years ago that Erne Gaels lost by a single point to Derrygonnelly in the Fermanagh Senior Championship final (it was 2016 to be precise), but they haven’t really kicked on. Their new manager, Andrew Dolan, knows that as well as anyone as he played for the club for 14 years, and their league campaign to date has been a fairly mixed bag. The loss of Ryan Lyons, who is in Australia, is a considerable one, but in Ultan Kelm they have one of the finest players in Fermanagh. He was due to play in AFL trials earlier in the year, but that was put on the backburner due to Covid-19, and while he hasn’t completely ruled it out, for the time being he’s available for his club. Odhran Johnston is deserving of a mention as a talented young player, but numbers are fairly low with a poor transition from minor to senior level. For now though, they still have a chance of making their mark in the championship and in Tommy McCaffrey they have a good skipper.

Kinawley

Management:

Ollie Fay and Kevin Maguire

Championship programme:
Fermanagh SFC quarter-final
Kinawley v Erne Gaels

Team news:

LAST year’s Intermediate Champions will be in seriously confident form at the moment having made an almost-perfect start to their Division One campaign. They’ve won three of their four matches to date, including a shock victory over Derrygonnelly at the weekend. Mark Monaghan stepped down at the end of last year, but Cavan clubman Ollie Fay knows the Fermanagh scene well having recently managed the u-20 team. Kinawley have a good amount of talent in their ranks, exemplified by the Corrigan brothers Ruairi and team captain Tomas, while veterans Shaun Doherty and Niall Bogue are still playing well. Eoghan McManus and Aaron O’Reilly have returned from long-term injuries, albeit Aaron pulled his hamstring at the weekend so faces a race against time to get fit for the championship. Youngsters to look out for include Tom Keenan, Aichlinn O’Caithin and Aaron Tierney, and if they carry their league form into the championship, who knows what they might achieve?

Roslea

Management:
Peter McGinnity, John Mohan and Paul Boyle.

Championship programme:

Fermangh SFC quarter-final
Roslea v Derrygonnelly

Team news:

ROSLEA have picked up a bit of form in the last week or so after a disappointing opening day defeat to Ederney. Their problem is pretty simple: they have an ageing squad and the sudden return to training after months of relative inactivity has led to a number of players getting injured, including Niall Cassidy and Brendan Sherlock. Moreover, a few players have retired while Diarmuid McAleer and Niall Beggan have headed to Australia. They have the worst possible draw in the championship as well, but they were always going to have to face Derrygonnelly at some stage if they’re to claim their first title since 2014. Peter McGinnity is back in charge, and they’re somewhat reliant on Sean Quigley to get the ball over the bar. His brother Seamus Quigley isn’t available as he’s working in England. James McMahon is captain.

Teemore

Management:
Barry Owens, Conor Doherty, Sean Quinn and Sean Owens.

Championship programme:
Fermanagh SFC quarter-final
Teemore v Tempo

Team News
Teemore have been in absolutely scintillating form in Division Two, so they’ll really being eyeing up the possibility of taking a scalp against Tempo. They’re unbeaten after four games, and they weren’t really challenged in any of them, but obviously the senior championship will be a different kettle of fish. Still though, they’re going well, and have achieved a commendable level of consistency given they have quite a lot of young players coming through the ranks. Club legend Barry Owens is player-manager, and Ciaran Fitzpatrick is another stalwart of the team who is still giving it his all. Young players to watch out for include Oisin Murphy and Aaron McManus, and the hope is that in the next few years they can shed the unwanted label of being a ‘yo-yo club’ having bounced back and forth between the leagues.

Tempo

Management:
Patrick McNabb

Championship programme:
Fermanagh SFC quarter-final
Tempo v Teemore

Team news
THE backbone of Tempo’s team is their four county players – Aidan Breen, Ryan Breen, Lorcan McStravick and Tiarnan Bogue. Ryan, Lorcan and Tiarnan are talented young players who were called up to the inter-county panel earlier this year, and when you add in the likes of Oisin Jackson and Peter Rafferty into the mix, it’s obvious that there’s no shortage of talented young players coming through the ranks. Having one last year’s Division Two league, they’re back in the top flight and have conducted themselves reasonably well in their four matches to date. In terms of the negatives, Darryl Keenan has hung up the boots, but things are generally going fairly well under their new manager Pat McNabb. And finally, in transfer news, Trillick’s Keelan Kelly has come into the club. Rory McCaffrey is team captain this season.

By Niall Gartland