Disappointing end to a disappointing year

Editorial Department • Published 15 Jul 2010 16:00 0 Comments

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Tommy McElroy cuts a desolate figure at the final whistle on Sunday.<<

And so it is all over for another year. A disappointing season came to an end on Sunday with defeat to Armagh in the All Ireland Qualifiers. Indeed, it has been two disappointing seasons that have witnessed the side drop from Division Two to Division Four in the league and while there have been brief flutterings in the championship over the two seasons with wins over Down and Cavan, both those campaigns ended on a disappointing notes as well.

From the tone of Malachy O'Rourke at the end of the game it appears that he is giving serious consideration to stepping down from the manager's position and maybe after three years he thinks that he has taken the squad as far as he can. Maybe he feels that a new voice is required if the side are to move forward again. One thing that's for sure though, O'Rourke deserves the time and space to make his mind up on whether or not to remain in charge, and if he does decide to stay on then it will only be because he feels he can improve matters. A minor incident at the end of Sunday's game would suggest that not all fans are happy with O'Rourke but in that in reality will have little or no impact on O'Rourke's decision. It will purely be a footballing decision.

Results may not have gone Fermanagh's way but O'Rourke, his backroom team and the players have put in a lot of effort over the last three years to strive to bring Fermanagh on and let's not forget that we were within a kick of the ball of winning a first Ulster title only two short summers ago.

That being said, the last two years have been difficult with a string of defeats in the league in both seasons and although we lifted it for the championship, ultimately the side struggled to recover the form and intensity of 2008.

Now we face life in Division Four, and with or without O'Rourke, it is going to take a great effort to get the side out of the division. To be honest, if O'Rourke had the squad available to him for the league that he had for the championship then I don't feel that Fermanagh would have been relegated and I do feel that at present, with the current squad Fermanagh would be a comfortable Division Three side. Reality is though that we face Division Four football in 2011 and unless we have our best players available then there are no assurances of getting out of the basement division.

Sunday once again showed up Fermanagh's big weakness, which is putting scores on the board. It is something that O'Rourke has struggled with throughout his tenure and the seven points that were put up on the scoreboard on Sunday will simply not win too many games.

It is something that we must continue to work on, and in fairness the likes of Seamus Quigley, Paul Ward and Chris O'Brien have shown that they have the ability to pick off scores if they receive the right supply of ball.

I felt going into the Armagh game, that this was one that could be won, and that was certainly the way it worked out. We won enough possession but made poor use of it. The forwards were, in the greater part, living off poor ball and when they did get possession they did not always take the best options.

Armagh on the other hand used their possession wiser, and when it was required at the end they took their chances which was enough to send them through.

There is no doubt that everybody involved in Fermanagh football is disappointed with the way things are at present, but what O'Rourke has started is a rebuilding process with the likes of Ryan Jones, Brian Cox, Barry Mulrone, Marty O'Brien, Daniel Ward, Paul Ward, Ciaran Flaherty, Niall McGovern and of course Quigley all having made championship debuts and the experience gathered this year by those players will be vital for next season. If they can continue to improve and show the required commitment then we could have a bright future again.

The key though will be to make sure that they have the experienced players alongside them so as to get the best out of them.

The likes of Ronan Gallagher, Niall Bogue, Ryan McCluskey, Tommy McElroy, James Sherry and others still have huge roles to play for their county while it would also be great to see a Marty McGrath free of injury, and a fully fit Barry Owens back in the green jersey.

Whether it is O'Rourke in the manager's bib next year, or somebody else, Fermanagh football will go on, and that elusive Ulster title will as always be on the wish-list. The real target though from the start of next season will have to be promotion and for that to be achieved then we need everybody on board and pulling in the one direction.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 15 Jul 10

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