FERMANAGH have recalled Enniskillen Gaels midfielder Richard O’Callaghan and Belcoo native Ciaran Flaherty for next season’s League and Championship campaigns.
Both could see game-time in tomorrow’s Dr McKenna Cup Section C opener against Ulster University in Derrygonnelly and the return of the experienced duo is timely after Ryan McCluskey, Eamon Maguire and Pat Cadden stepped down at the end of last season.
Tall and physically imposing, O’Callaghan, who first appeared in the green jersey in the Ulster Championship loss to Derry back in 2011 and made his debut in the Qualifier loss to London that followed during a turbulent summer for the Ernemen, was an ever-present under Pete McGrath’s management but has missed the last two seasons.
Flaherty, an Antrim Senior Football Championship winner with Lamh Dhearg last year, is also back in the fold. The hard-working half-forward made his senior debut back in 2010 under then manager Malachy O’Rourke but hasn’t played under current boss Rory Gallagher.
Former Fermanagh star Gallagher begins his second season at the helm of his native county having made considerable progress in his first. The Ernemen forced their way out of Division Three alongside Armagh and went on to beat the Orchardmen convincingly at the quarter-final stage of the Ulster Championship.
Following on from that victory, Fermanagh travelled to Healy Park, Omagh to take on a Tyrone side that had just beaten Tyrone (All-Ireland finalists last year). Gallagher’s men were the underdogs but a last-gasp Eoin Donnelly goal saw them snatch a famous win that sent them through to the Ulster final.
Hopes were high that Fermanagh could finally clinch a first provincial Championship but Donegal – the side Gallagher had managed the previous season – proved far too strong on the day.
Fermanagh will face the Tir Chonaill men in the fourth round of fixtures in Division Two in February next year and Gallagher has cast his net wide in search of new talent as he prepares his squad for what will be a testing campaign.
Among the new faces in the panel is forward Garvan Jones from four in-a-row championship winners Derrygonnelly who joins brothers Conal and Ryan in the Fermanagh ranks. Meanwhile, Enniskillen Gaels defender Johnny Cassidy and Belnaleck forward Dara McGurn, both minors last year, have both been called up.
Senior players Declan McCusker and Eoin Donnelly could both feature tomorrow while Devenish clubman Thomas Treacy (netminder in the 2015 side which reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals under McGrath) is poised to take over goalkeeping duties from Cadden (who played as a converted goalkeeper last season after playing most of his career outfield) with Ederney’s Enda Ferris pencilled in as his understudy
Seamus Quigley has been lining out for soccer outfit Enniskillen Town but both he and brother Sean are expected to feature in the campaign.
After tomorrow’s game with the students from Ulster University, Fermanagh will face Derry at Brewster Park on January 6 and complete the McKenna Cup group stage against Tyrone the following Wednesday night. The Ernemen haven’t won the title since 1997 and breaking that 22-season drought – or at least getting to the knock-out stages - would be ideal preparation for the dog-eat-dog terrain of Division Two which begins with Cork’s visit to Enniskillen on January 19.
That is followed by a trip to Tipperary with winnable home games against Kildare and Clare separate by a visit to Donegal and Fermanagh finish their campaign on the road against Armagh and then Meath.
