Unfair criticism. The double-edged sword of Rory Gallagher’s connection with Donegal. The folly of a two-tiered system. And even Brexit. They all came up as Ryan McMenamin chatted about his time in Fermanagh and the build up to the Ulster final.
The Dromore native has cut a distinctive figure on the side-line for the Erne county, and also a dashing figure on the field, entering the fray to relay instructions to the Fermanagh players. It is fair to say that he has enjoyed his time here:
“It has been great. I wasn’t sure what to expect but the players have been brilliant. Could not ask for more from them,” he stated.

The three time All Ireland winner had plenty of praise for Donegal too, but it is clear that a plan is already fermenting to nullify the threat of Declan Bonner’s men:
“You watch Donegal and you see a wide range of scorers. Young Jamie Brennan, Ciaran Thompson and the likes. Then you have Paddy McBrearty, one of the best forwards in Ireland and Michael Murphy, one of the best footballers in Ireland so they have a lot of different threats and we will look at that and maybe make a few wee adjustments. But at the same time we will have to stay true to what has been good to us all year but also bring a bit more of an attacking edge too.”
Speaking of attack McMenamin is keenly aware of the critics that have spoken about Fermanagh’s lack of thrust in this area but one gets the impression that it is water of a ducks back:
“I think the criticism has been a wee bit unfair, but to be honest we don’t pass much remarks on it. We do work a lot on the attacking side of the game and we also work a lot on the defensive side of the game. That’s the two sides of the game. We were disappointed with what we got out of our attack against Armagh and disappointed with what we got out of our attack, especially in the first half, against Monaghan. We should have been four or five points up.”
Looking ahead to the final McMenamin believes that Fermanagh have to have faith in the attributes that has taken them this far, and he points way back to January for the first few trickles of this summer spring:
“I think we have to keep doing what we have been doing. It comes down to hard work and guts. Those are the two most important things. Go right back to the McKenna Cup when we were beat eight points to six by Tyrone. We played with 14 men for most of the game and we were right there.  
“We know it is a big ask against Donegal. We saw what they did do Down but if we want to be there with ten minutes to go then we will just have to keep doing what we have been doing work wise and perform as well as we can on the day.”
The Tyrone man accepted that much had been made of the inner knowledge that Rory Gallagher had of the Donegal team from his time there as manager, but the former All Star believes that it is perhaps being played up a little much:
“It is probably a double-edged sword because the Donegal players know Rory inside out as well. But when you look at Rory he just loves football and he knows so much about every team in the country. But it is what it is. I don’t think it will play that much in to it to be honest.
“They have a new management and Declan (Bonner) and Karl (Lacey) have done a great job so for myself looking at it, they are different team to last year, and that is often what happens, teams can change a lot from year to year,” McMenamin stated. 
That prospect of change from year to year is one of the reasons McMenamin is against any introduction of two-tiered championship believing that ‘it would kill the belief in a lot of counties’: 
“It’s an emotive subject and different people want different things. Players don’t want it but then you have pundits thinking that they know best for the players. 
“And the same pundits, who normally come from the some of the so called higher ranked counties, arguing for a two tiered system would then criticise teams for maybe playing that bit defensive to give themselves the best chance of winning so you are sort of caught between a rock and a hard place really,” McMenamin explained before alluding to the rose tinted glasses than many pundits put on from time to time. 
“No-one ever talked about hammerings back in the 90’s. There is more spotlight on the games now, which is a good thing in a way, but it also means everyone has an opinion, maybe without thinking it through. Social media is taking over, and things can be changed very quickly and they might not be the best changes. 
“It is sort of like Brexit, people might look back and think things were far better years ago, then things get changed maybe for the worse. And like maybe people look back at football 30 years ago and think it was far better. I’m not so sure. I know I look back at games I played in at the start of my career and I thought I would have been flying and in great shape but the truth is I wasn’t in that good of shape,” he said with more than a glint in his eye. 
Whatever about yesteryear under Gallagher McMenamin and the rest of the management team Fermanagh are in good shape this year. Roll on Sunday.