Enniskillen will begin their season with a game against Coleraine and they have targeted promotion and a return to Qualifying Section One.

Enniskillen coach Norman Richmond explains that promotion is the main aim this season, and he believes the squad will learn lessons from last season’s campaign.

“We learned as a team from last year,” he said. “We lost five games in the league and four of them we should not have lost. We have built on our shortcomings from last season and this time around we feel we are probably a more rounded team. The target for the season is promotion and we think that is realistic.” Enniskillen welcome back Mark O’Shea to their ranks following a spell at Dungannon and they are also gaining Adam Lendrum and Jamie McCain from Portora, but Patrick McCleary will play no part this season. The first two fixtures will give the local side an idea of their chances of success, but Norman admits it is a tough start to the season.

“We haven’t been given a favourable start to the season,” he said. “We are away to Coleraine this Saturday and then away to Ballymoney the following Saturday. Coleraine finished above us in the league season, but having got beaten by them twice last season we will be hoping to turn the tables. Ballymoney were relegated from Qualifying One so they will be stiff competition as well.” Norman feels they are well prepared however with a thorough pre-season behind them.

“Preparations have been good this year,” he said. “We started pre-season slightly earlier than normal and we have been working on our fitness and various other aspects of our game that we needed to focus on to be able to compete to be in contention for promotion to qualifying one. We have worked on various aspects of the game and adapted them from the training ground to game scenarios and things look reasonably good at the moment.”