Enniskillen and Clogher Valley will come face to face this weekend as the two clubs kick off their Kukri Qualifying One campaigns with a local derby.
For Enniskillen the game marks their return to the top flight and they will be hoping to start their season with a morale boosting victory, but coach Willie Gibson knows that success at the end of the season will not be measure by what happens on Saturday.
“The boys are looking forward to it but we have talked about our goals for this season and we haven’t said beating Clogher Valley is one of those goals, although I suppose it’s down the line there somewhere,” he admitted.
“We are looking at different things than that and that one game will not define the whole season. They are a good side and have been a good side in that league from when I was playing. It will be tough but I suppose now is as good a time as any to play them. It doesn’t matter when you get them.”
In contrast to the league’s newcomers, Clogher Valley have a long pedigree of success in Qualifying One.
They will be looking to get their current campaign off to a winning start, but know they will have to be at their best to see off te challenge of their local rivals.
“Enniskillen will be coming down looking to start back well after their absence from qualifying one for a few years,” recognised Clogher Valley joint coach Davy Black.
“They will be full of running, as we will be as well. I don’t know if it’s a fixture we or they would have wanted but it is what it is. We have to play each other at some stage, and we are happy enough to take them on the first day of the season.
“I am definitely looking forward to it as are all the boys. There are no league positions sorted out in the first week of the season and there never will be. It is your run-in that sorts out the league positions and it is a long hard season as we have found for the last few years in qualifying one.”
Clogher Valley have tasted league and cup success in recent seasons and they will once again hope to be challenging at the top of the table come the end of the league. “I suppose this season we will looking for a top four position and anything over and above that will be a bonus,” said Davy.
“Pre-season has gone well. The boys have worked extremely hard. They probably only gave themselves three weeks off and then they were straight back it and they have put in a good shift at training. We are still in a transition period. We are bringing in a few young boys at the minute and during pre-season we had something like five debutants playing with the firsts because we want to give the youth that chance. We have a few boys with long term injuries and we are waiting for them to come back but it won’t be a big overhaul of the squad. We have a few players from last seasons under 19 squad that won’t be too far away this season and it is shaping up very well.”
For Enniskillen the priority for the year is to consolidate their position in the division in their first year back.
“We have set out what we want to do and it might not involve winning the league, but it certainly doesn’t involve a relegation battle either,” said Willie.
“We will be looking to stay away from the bottom end of the league and be away from that end of season scramble for points. We had a good game against Dungannon twos and that has given them a lot of confidence. There are a lot of young boys there who would never have played in that league and they are excited to see what way it is. ”