Ederney’s Declan McCusker will be particularly keen to get a win this Sunday when Fermanagh travel to Celtic Park in the league to face Derry. A family wedding rules both he and his brother Paul out for the second and third league games so a victory, and a sizeable taste of the action will be on the agenda for Declan.
The flying wing back believes that this Sunday’s trip represents a tough challenge but not one that is of the insurmountable variety;
“Every game in division two is going to be very difficult, that goes without saying, but getting a win away from home in Derry will be tough but we are confident that if we perform well that we will be in with a very good chance of picking up the two points.”
When asked about the long term goals for the league McCusker would not be drawn on any promotion ambitions but he did say that they have points from the the first two games as very much on the agenda;
“I don’t think the squad is looking past the first two games, there is a break after that and everyone can sort of refocus. If we can get points in those games against Derry and Meath then it would set us up nicely with three more home games left in the league.”
McCusker revealed that primary objective in the McKenna Cup was achieved and he explained the importance of that game against Tyrone in the semi final even though it ended in defeat.
“I suppose it was a decent enough McKenna Cup. Our priority was to get an extra game because if you don’t get that then there is a big break before the first round of the league. Even though Tyrone beat us those types of games can only help us as it is important to try and really hit the ground running in the league, especially as we are in division two.”
Turning his attention to Derry the St Joseph’s man believes that they will hell bent on returning to the first division and believes new manager Damian Barton brings an added bonus to the home side;
“They look really confident at the moment. They have a new manager which always gives teams a little boost and they have some big name players back this year like James Kielt and Ryan Bell so they will be confident of getting the win. After relegation last season they will want to bounce back up and will have targeted the first game as a big game to win.”
McCusker accepts that Fermanagh have a tough campaign on their hands this season but he sees the fact that the majority of their games are at home as being something they can look to as a real plus;
“Having four home games is very important. If we can carry our home form on from last year then it will be a big help. We were unbeaten at Brewster Park last year and it should be a big advantage to us if we can keep that going again this year.”
Building and indeed bettering 2015 will be quite a challenge for this Fermanagh squad but McCusker is adamant that they have the right frame of mind to make sure that this year sees Fermanagh football move forward once more
“I think the emphasis is just on improving all the time. Nobody is going to be happy with what was achieved last year because we want to push on,” he said before adding;
“There has been a real freshness to the squad this season. The new players have really brought a lot to the whole squad and everyone is pushing each other on. And also the back room team has been added to and I think that shows that everyone is really ambitious about becoming better this year.”