ULTAN Kelm jokes that he ‘only’ thinks about the Aussie Rules contract he missed out on a couple of times every day.
The fleet-footed Fermanagh forward hasn’t given up on making it to professional sport Down Under despite twice having his dreams dashed due to what he rightly describes as “a series of unfortunate events”.
He was originally supposed to go to Australia in April 2020 but the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic scuppered that. Two years’ later he signed a contract with Freemantle but was injured so the move never happened.
“They postponed it,” he explains with a wry smile.
“That door’s not closed, hopefully something will still happen. I’d like to give it a go, it’s an opportunity that I’d love, I’ve developed a big interest in the sport and it’s something I’d be mad-keen to try.”
Aussie Rules may be in the back of his mind but front and centre is Fermanagh’s return to Division Two. Kelm’s pace and cutting edge were instrumental in getting Kieran Donnelly’s side out of a competitive third tier last season.
He scored in six of the seven games (totalling 2-12) and says the Erne county squad have been putting in the hard yards as they prepare to mix it with Armagh, Donegal and the rest next year.
“The standard has to rise because we’ll be playing against better calibre teams,” said Kelm.
“But this is where we want to be. We said at the start of last year that we wanted to get back into Division Two and play against the top teams. We got there and we want to progress as a team so hopefully we can start the year well in the McKenna Cup and get on well in Division Two.”
If they are to get on well they’ll do so without Ryan and Conall Jones and the prolific boots of Sean Quigley who has been the mainstay of the Fermanagh attack for the best part of a de cade.
“He’ll be hard to replace,” says Kelm.
“To be fair to Sean, he owes the Fermanagh jersey nothing, he has gone around the block for us.
“Apart from what he does on the pitch, he’s a massive personality in the changingrooms – such a leader and then there’s the bit of craic that he provides. He’s a real character, you wouldn’t have a sad face on you too long talking to him, he’s full of craic.
“I suppose it gives the younger boys the opportunity to step up and there’s a space there to be filled.
“Conor Love, John Rehill, Callum Jones… boys like that have the potential to really kick on and hopefully they can push on.”
Fermanagh were grouped with Monaghan and Antrim in last Wednesday night’s Dr McKenna Cup draw and, after the pre-season competition, they begin the League with a trip to Navan to face Meath at Pairc Tailteann. It’s fair to say the outcome of that game will tell us a lot about their prospects.
“Every team will go in thinking they’re in contention,” said Kelm.
“The two teams coming down from Division One (Armagh and Donegal) are automatically going to be the favourites to go back up but it’ll be cutthroat and, on the last day, there’s never too much between getting promoted and getting relegated.
“Every game will be massive and if you slip up early, it’s hard to claw it back so it’s just about starting well and keeping the consistency in your performances.”
“Everybody wants to be performing well for the team and you want to be able to step up in big moments in games. I enjoy that and getting forward and taking scores is part of my game that I try to work on.”
