The McKenna Cup may have started well for Fermanagh but Barry Mulrone stresses that the sole focus for the Ernemen at present is the opening game in Division Two - a January 31 meeting with Derry in Owenbeg.
Promotion from Division Three last year will see Fermanagh compete in the higher division in 2016 against the likes of Derry and Tyrone and Mulrone knows it is key that they hit the ground running when the league gets underway.
“There is no-one looking past Derry at the minute,” he said. “Obviously we are taking each game as it comes in the McKenna Cup but the overall focus is trying to get a positive result in the first league game up in Owenbeg. We know from previous years that if you don’t get a good start in the league you are looking over your shoulder straight away so it is important to get the ball rolling.”
The Devenish man feels that Division Two, which includes five Ulster teams,will be tightly contested and says that it is hard to call who will go up and who will go down from the division.
“It is like a mini Ulster league and then you have Galway who will be looking to kick on from last year, you have Laois with a new management team and then Meath who are always dangerous. There is little between the teams and it is very hard to pick which teams will get promoted and which teams will get relegated. As I’ve said, our focus is solely on Derry at the minute and then it will be just taking it one game at a time after that and seeing how we fair out. The main thing for us though is that we can consolidate our Division Two status,” he added.
Fermanagh manager Pete McGrath has used the McKenna Cup campaign to get players games and to also run his eye over the new players who have been added to the squad and Mulrone believes that this year will see even greater competition for places.
“The squad was very competitive last year in even getting into the match day panel, nevermind the starting 15, but by the looks of things it will be even tougher this year and there is going to be a serious competition for starting places for the first league game against Derry.”
The experienced Mulrone had a fine campaign in 2015 and he has continued that on at the start of the current year, producing a terrific display in the win over Down in Newry, a game in which he captained the side in the absence of Eoin Donnelly and Ryan Jones. He was also man of the match in Wednesday night's four point win over Donegal in Brewster Park as Fermanagh set up a semi-final meeting against Tyrone.
“I was proud to have captained the side and it means I’ve captained Fermanagh at all levels which is also something I’m very proud of but at the end of the day big Eoin is the leader of the team, he is the captain and someone that everybody looks up to. In fairness, there is a group of lads within the squad who are all leaders and you need that within a team,” said Mulrone.
Fermanagh began their McKenna Cup programme with a win over St. Mary’s last Wednesday night in Garvaghey and followed it up with victories over Down in Newry on Sunday and Donegal under the lights at Brewster Park on Wednesday night.
“It has been a decent start. Against St. Mary’s we would have wanted a better performance but it was the first competitive game and given the conditions we were happy enough to get over the line and get the win. I thought against Down it was a better show of what we are capable of. I felt from start to finish the whole gameplan was in sync and we controlled the game throughout,” he commented.
And Mulrone is thoroughly enjoying the role he has been given by the management, one that requires high fitness levels to get all around the pitch. “I really enjoy the role I have in the team,” he said. “It takes a lot of energy to get up and down the field but there is a good team cohesion and if you are up the pitch then another man knows to drop back into your position and cover for you,” he stated.