Promotion the big aim for Devenish

By Niall Gartland

DEVENISH ended a 26-year wait when they came up trumps in last season’s Fermanagh Intermediate Championship, and manager Sylvester Mulrone says they have now turned their attention to success on the league front.

The Garrison-based club are faring extremely well in the Club Players Competition and will take on Teemore in a sigificant game this weekend to determine who will start the Division Two league proper with three points on the board for the winner and two for the loser. The ultimate target is promotion to Division One, and with a number of talented young players coming through the ranks, it certainly isn’t beyond them.

Mulrone, who leads the team with his son Barry and Martin O’Brien, commented: “We were very disappointed that we were relegated last year. We felt the relegation format was poor and we suffered from that.

“We always intended on doing another year, the three of us. We won the Intermediate last year which was big for us and the next target is getting promotion back to Division One, it won’t be easy but that would be our goal at the minute. This is our first season in Division Two for a long time and it is a minefield, you’re a big fish and everyone wants to beat you, if you’re off it at all you could be in bother.”

Devenish have a few good ex-minors on board this season and he’s confident that they’ll be able to cut it at adult level.

“Some of them are already playing, Fionan O’Brien who came through a few years before that is on the county panel at the minute. Then you’ve Stephen O’Brien, Lanty Feeley, Ciaran Cullen, Cian O’Brien. They’re all doing well, they’ve all shown they’re capable of playing senior football.”

While Mulrone has a long associate with Devenish stretching back decades, he says it definitely doesn’t do any harm to have recent Fermanagh footballers Barry Mulrone and Martin O’Brien alongside him on the sideline.

“They’ve going well, the young fellas have bought into what they’re doing especially as they were involved in the intercounty scene for a long time, the young lads really look up to them. They’re two great lads to have about the place, they invest a lot of time and energy into it. They both have young families but they put in a lot to the club. Barry’s still playing a bit as well which is great.”