After nine months out with injury, Ryan McCluskey finally made his return to the county colours on Sunday when he played the first half of Fermanagh’s McKenna Cup opener against Monaghan in Clones.

His last game prior to this was last year’s league meeting against Galway in Tuam when an underlying hip problem flared up and eventually required surgery.

Given he was 35 years old at the time, many thought that would be it for the Enniskillen Gaels man at inter-county level but McCluskey explains that once he was given the all clear from the consultant to return to football he was determined to get back playing for Fermanagh.

He didn’t want to finish his inter-county career on the injury note of last year, but more importantly, the desire and hunger is still there to play at the top level while there is also that itch that needs scratched - helping Fermanagh to a first Ulster title.

“There’s no doubt, I wouldn’t want to have left it with how last year ended with the injury. It was something that had built up and then happened in the Galway game and I suppose it would have been disappointing, even though it was an important game, if that would have been the last competitive game that I played.

“The other thing is simply that I still have that drive and hunger to put on the green shirt and to try and win an Ulster title, there is still that unfinished business.

“The last consultation I had I got the go ahead to go back and it was an easy enough decision to make to go back and give it another year although at the minute it is just a case of taking it one session at a time. I still think though that I have something to offer, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be there, and if I didn’t think I would be able to physically compete at this level it would be time to knock it on the head.”

It has been a long road back though since that Galway game at the end of March last year and the experienced defender was unsure whether or not he would make it back at all.

“It was nice to get back wearing the Fermanagh top again on Sunday,” he said. “I didn’t know whether it would happen again when I realised the seriousness of the injury against Galway but I have been lucky that the surgery went well and I’ve worked hard during the eight or nine month period that I have been out so it was good to first and foremost be back in the squad last weekend and then I was happy to be in the starting team,” he commented.

McCluskey admits that he was rusty which was natural after such a long time on the sidelines but his main goal was just to come through the game.

“I had only played a challenge game against Queens so for that to be my first real game in eight or nine months I was just happy to get through the game unscathed more than anything else. Obviously there was plenty of ring rust but it’s game time and I need that to get me up to match fitness and up to the demands that are needed at that level. I enjoyed being back and I’m enjoying being back in the squad.”

McCluskey will be hoping to get more game time under his belt this week when Fermanagh have home games against St. Mary’s and Antrim and he feels that the McKenna Cup is an important competition as Pete McGrath’s side prepare for a league opener against Down in Newry at the start of next month.

“It’s key in that it gives you competitive games and different counties use it for different things. It’s a competition that we would love to win but it is also a great chance to give boys competitive games. At the weekend it was great for us to give a few lads a start and the boys gave a good account for themselves. It was also great for the likes of myself and Barry Mulrone who have come back from surgery to get a bit of game time and get back on the pitch. We have a couple of games this week and hopefully we can win those and maybe progress and get another game. When this is over we will then focus on the league and set our goals for it,” he said.