After 19 years, Ryan McCluskey has pulled the curtain down on his time as a Fermanagh senior player.
The Enniskillen Gaels man has enjoyed highs and lows, and although it ends without his dream of an Ulster medal, there has been Ulster finals, All Ireland semi-finals, All Ireland Quarter-Finals and plenty of memories.
But with an injury plagued 2018 and with strong medical advice, the 37 year old made the difficult decision to call it a day. 
“Unfortunately during the middle of this year’s campaign I noticed a few issues with my right hip which is the one I had surgery on two years ago. I had an in-depth discussion with the medical team and I was advised just to see out the season for county and club and just leave it there. It wasn’t nice to hear and you would like to be in control of your own ending but I have to be grateful for the years that I’ve had and for having played in the green and white for many year. I’m also thankful for the support I have received from family and friends, especially from my Mum who followed me all over. I’m also thankful to my brother and sisters and other family members who supported me up and down the country at games,” said McCluskey.
It’s just 15 minutes after the stylish defender had announced his retirement from inter-county football on social media when we sat down at his business premises, Focus Recovery, to discuss his career.
He has known for some time that he would be calling it a day but it was still hard to actually make it real.
“I knew that this was coming but it is still very emotional because it has been such a big part of my life.
“I suppose I’m nearly regimented by the whole thing at this stage but I enjoyed absolutely every moment of it, the highs and the lows and there have been plenty. Everything has been a great experience and you know it is funny because it goes past in the blink of an eye.”
The obvious disappointment for the player was that he has finished without a medal to show for his troubles but he accepts that those are the way it goes.
“It would have been nice to have gone to the All Ireland final in ‘04 or to have won that Ulster title in 2008 and even this year to have had the fairytale ending by winning Ulster and stroll off into the sunset. Look,  there were some great days, days you won’t ever forget, but unfortunately there were no medals won,” he states.
McCluskey’s first involvement with the senior squad came under the late Pat King back in 2000 but he didn’t actually play until 2001 under John Maughan and Dom Corrigan.
That summer he was handed his first Championship start when Fermanagh took on Donegal in Ballybofey, and it was a baptism of fire as he struggled to contain Brendan Devenney.
“ I was coming from club football where the Gaels side I was playing in was really competitive in Ulster and I thought it would be an easy enough step up to inter-county football. I had done alright in a few league appearances but that was a step up and I got a serious lesson that day,” he recalls.
The game finished in a draw and redemption arrived a week later in the replay as McCluskey learnt the lessons from the first game as he limited the danger man to a point.
“I actually thought that I wouldn’t get another crack at the whip after that first day but John Maughan kept faith in me and gave me another go against Devenney. It was a massive learning curve in Ballybofey, Brendan was a really top class forward, but thankfully I did better the second day.
“Funnily enough Brendan was one of the first to message me this morning” he said.
Over the next number of years Clucker became the go to man when Fermanagh needed the reins put on a forward and he enjoyed big tussles with the likes of Peter Canavan and Stevie McDonnell.
“When you look through them, Peter Canavan, Stevie McDonnell, Benny Coulter, Mugsy, they were absolutely top class forwards and back then you maybe didn’t get the protection that you get now as a corner back. It was a case of one on one and it wasn’t a nice place to be at times on a wide open pitch in the likes of Clones or Croke Park. The way I looked at it though was that it was a great experience to play against these legends of our game and you learn from each of them. I would also hope that I gave decent enough accounts against them,” he added.
And things were continuing on an upward curve on the pitch for Fermanagh.
Dom Corrigan followed Maughan into the hotseat and the squad enjoyed a fine 2003 season when they reached a NFL semi-final and an All Ireland Quarter-Final and were unlucky on both occasions to come up against an unstoppable Tyrone side. McCluskey feels this laid the foundations for what was a memorable 2004.
“Dom is somebody I would still be in touch with him on a regular basis and I have a great respect for him. He would have brought that side together and there was definitely something building from that 03 team. 
“Charlie (Mulgrew) then came in the next year and made a number of additions including a few of the successful St Comghgall’s team. It was  a great blend and a rollercoaster of a season.”
McCluskey missed the league in 2004 as he was in college in England and along with Tom Brewster wasn’t part of the squad for the narrow Ulster Championship defeat to Tyrone. However, the pair were soon back in the reckoning as Fermanagh set off on a wonderful trip through the Qualifiers.
“I wasn’t part of the first game, I was sitting with Tom Brewster in the stands as I had been away at College and he had been in Australia, to then go on the journey we went on that year was something else.”
Meath and Donegal were both defeated en route to the All Ireland Quarter-Final and a match up with raging hot All Ireland favourites, Armagh.
“There was something in the air that day. I always tell the story of us kicking a ball around on the pitch before the game, actually we were playing a bit of soccer and we were having a bit of craic and we were so relaxed. Then when you glanced across to the other side of the pitch and you seen how serious the Armagh boys were. We just knew that the build up to the match was right and we just knew that we would get the result.When Tom got that ball at the end you knew he was kicking it, he would kick those chances all day long,” he said.
It was then on to the meeting with Mayo in the semi-final and Ryan is in no doubt that the first day was one that got away.
“Maybe it was that first day nerves and the fact that we had never been in that situation before but I think that first day we left it behind, we should have won, while on the second day I just think we were beaten by a better Mayo side. They learnt more from the drawn game. It would have been lovely though to have taken that step and tested ourselves against Kerry in the final.
“Look it is great to look back on that year and it was fantastic but there were no medals at the end of it, they aren’t handed out for getting to a semi-final.”
The defender continued to shine in the green over the next couple of seasons but 2007 was a tough year for him off the pitch.
His father Oliver was terminally ill and passed away and Ryan took a step back from the county set up.
“Even thinking about it I have a lump in my throat. It was a tough time, tough for the whole family but it put things in perspective,” he said.
By winter though he was itching to get back and there was a new man at the helm with Malachy O’Rourke taking over after Charlie Mulgrew stepped down.
“I was hungry to get back involved and when Malachy got the job it was an easy decision for me to make to go back.”
And there was new role for McCluskey with O’Rourke installing him at number six where he again shone.
“I suppose I felt I was ready to take more responsibility, to affect games more, and Malachy gave me that bit more responsibility. It was nice to get the vote of confidence.”
The side made strides in Ulster that summer as they saw off Monaghan and Derry to reach the Ulster final. 
“That was a great summer and I thought we really made progress under Malachy and his backroom team. You just have to look at the wonders that Malachy has worked at Monaghan at this time to see how good a manager he is,” added the Gaels man.
Again though Fermanagh were to come up just short after a replay.
“You again go back to that first day, we hadn’t been in the final in a long time and we definitely let it slip. We should have got over the line that day. We were confident going into the second day but Armagh maybe just learned that bit more from the first game. Again, there was no medal and it was really hard to take.”
O’Rourke stepped down in 2010 and McCluskey was unavailable in 2011.
However, when Peter Canavan was appointed in 2012 his first call was to the defender he made his captain.
“I had captained the side a few times under Malachy but it  a great honour to be named captain under Peter. I had the pleasure, or maybe displeasure, of marking him a few times and he is somebody that everybody looks up to so to get that recognition was great.”
There was another All Ireland quarter-final in 2015 against the Dubs in a packed Croker under Pete McGrath but silverware continued to elude Fermanagh.
The belief remained though for McCluskey and when Rory Gallagher was appointed ahead of last season McCluskey decided to stay on. Although he didn’t see as much game time as he wanted, he is pleased that he was there for the season as Fermanagh again reached an Ulster final before losing to Donegal. 
“It was great to be involved this year under the management set up which included friends that I would have played alongside for Fermanagh.  It maybe wasn’t the ending that I would have liked playing wise or medal wise but to be able to maybe help the lads and give them bits of advice was nice.”
And he has some advice for the current squad of players.
“After 04 and 08,  from a players point of view, we took our foot of the gas and the players should have stepped up and really pushed the thing on. Hopefully this current group will learn from the mistakes of the past and ensure that next year is a better year again,” he stated.
He is in no doubt though that the right management is in place to take Fermanagh to that next level.
“The current management and backroom team are up there with some of the best that I worked with and I honestly believe that the talent is there. I would love to see the current management involved for another number years.”
So, what does the future hold now for Clucker?
“I’ll just take a bit of a rest from the game although I’ll likely be banging my head of the wall after two or three weeks and my wife Donna will probably be pushing me out the door. Look, I probably will get into coaching or management down the line and you never know, it would be nice to some day be involved in a county set up again and see it from the other side of the fence.
“ For now though it will be a bit of golf and see what happens.”