Veteran Fermanagh defender Ryan McCluskey has hailed the appointment of Rory Gallagher as the new Erne manager.

And he feels that Gallagher has made a great call in bringing former Tyrone star and three time All Ireland winner Ryan McMenamin into his management team.

Gallagher and McMenamin were ratified as Pete McGrath’s successor at Monday night’s County Board meeting and McCluskey believes that it is a great coup for the county to have the pair.

“I think that it is a massive catch for the county and it is a very positive appointment,” he commented.

“Both lads are not long out of the game and will bring that modern approach which is the way that the game has evolved. Also, both are winners and I think their achievements with club and county have shown this.

“They have won things at the highest level and that experience of winning I think is something that the players will learn from.”

McCluskey is a former team-mate of Gallagher and says he has always been a thinker about the game.

“Rory has always had a great knowledge of the game and that was evident from the days I played with him.

“He was always very astute, both on the pitch and in the changing room and you can see that he has taken that into management.”

And the Enniskillen Gaels man says both men are also very passionate about the sport.

“You would know from playing against Ricey and also playing alongside Rory, they have a real passion and hunger for the game. There is no doubting that and the players will see that.

“Who wouldn’t want to play under boys like these?

“You have Rory who has had his success with Donegal and Ricey has three All Ireland senior medals as a player, they are passionate and they are very knowledgeable about the game.

“It is the important now that they have the full backing of everybody and everybody pulls together,” said McCluskey.

Whether or not he will be back for another year in the green, McCluskey says that he has made no decision yet and he has plenty to occupy him over the the next few months away from football.

“At the minute, I’m not even thinking about football,” he said.

“I have my stag do coming up in a couple of weeks and it is nice to be able to go and not worry about football.

“I then have my wedding coming up at the end of the year so I’m focussed on that.

“It will be good to take a bit of break and recharge the batteries and we’ll look at things in a couple of months time,” he added.