Sunday sees the start of the season for the club footballer and if the last few seasons are anything to go by we can expect another highly competitive Division One in 2017.

It is holders Derrygonnelly though who will start the campaign as favourites and rightly so.

Martin Greene’s side have dominated matters locally over the last two seasons, completing back to back doubles last season and they are the team that everybody will be aiming to shoot down when the action gets underway.

The Harps have a strong squad to call on which is back-boned by the likes of Ryan Jones, Mickey Jones, Tiarnan Daly, Garvan Jones and Paul Ward and they will be looking to further cement their position as the number one in the county.

However, there is a host of clubs who will be snapping at their heels with the goal of taking their crown.

Erne Gaels pushed the Harps all the way in last season’s championship decider before losing late on and they will be keen to build on this in 2017. Certainly, Maurice McLaughlin has plenty of quality to call on in the likes of Ryan Lyons, Tommy McCaffrey, Seamus Ryder and Brian Mullins and they should be among the main contenders over the course of the season.

Another side who will be hoping to be challenging will be Brian Gormley’s Roslea outfit. The Shamrocks have no shortage of experience and match winners in their ranks in the shape of Seamus and Sean Quigley along with Niall Cassidy, James McMahon and Conor Quigley.

On their day they are capable of beating anyone and they will be eager to get back in contention for trophies this year.

Ederney didn’t really get going last season, missing out on a top four slot in the league and then losing to Derrygonnelly in the championship quarter-finals, so they will be hoping for better this season. Mickey Cassidy has returned to the helm as manager having led the club to the SFC final in 2006 and he will be looking for the likes of Paul McCusker, Declan McCusker, Marty McGrath and Stephen McElrone to get them challenging at the top end of the table.

Teemore, under Tommy Clarke, were possibly the surprise package in the league last year as they followed up promotion the year before by going on to make the league final although they lost that decider heavily to a Harps side who came into the final on the back of their championship win.

The Shamrocks have some promising young players making their mark with Cian McManus and Eoin McManus (injured at the moment) both involved during Fermanagh recent league campaign while Niall Clarke is another to catch the eye. With the experience of the likes of Barry Owens it is a nice blend and they will be aiming to improve further this season.

Irvinestown set out with the goal of consolidation last season having come up along with Teemore and they achieved that. Shane Goan has done a great job with the St. Molaise since taking the helm and with quality in the likes of James Duffy, Stephen Sheridan and Liam Murphy he will be keen to push on further up the table.

Devenish lacked consistency last year in finishing seventh in the table and manager Malachy Cullen will be keen to rectify that this time around. Barry Mulrone and Marty O’Brien provide leadership and direction and they will be hoping for better.

Another team who struggled in 2016 were Belcoo who required a play-off to avoid relegation. Peter Clarke has taken on the manager’s role at the O’Rahilly’s and he has stated that his immediate aim is to simply get all players out and working hard. There is some talented players in Belcoo and it will be up to Clarke to get the best out them.

And that leaves the two promoted clubs.

Lisnaskea have been something of a yo-yo club in recent years so although you can be sure that the target will be a top half of the table finish, if they can consolidate their place in the Division and give themselves something to build on then that will be a success going into the Intermediate Championship.

And finally there is Kinawley. The Brian Borus enjoyed double success last year as they lifted the Division Two title and Intermediate crown. Mark Monaghan has certainly started to get the best out of them although Ruairi Corrigan will be a loss for the start of the campaign due to injury. They are another side with a good mix of experience and youth that should be able to pick up their fair share of points throughout the season to avoid going back down.