Managers’ give their views on finishing the season

The Fermanagh and Western have kept their options open and are keen to finish the league if possible and will extend it for a period to do so but it does not look likely that football will be played any time in the near future. Indeed, the season could be declared null and void if not finished on the pitch.

The season is relatively well advanced but no titles have been decided yet although a number of clubs have clinched promotion for next year.

In Division One, Tummery are in pole position to land their first ever Mercer Cup as they sit seven points clear with six games to go but they can still be caught by the likes of Enniskillen Rangers and Enniskillen Town while at the bottom the relegation issues are yet to be decided.

In Division Two the promotion matters have already been resolved with Enniskillen Athletic and Mountfield both set to reach the top flight for the first time ever. At the foot of the table, Strule look to be in big trouble but are not mathematically down.

And in Division Three Enniskillen Galaxy have secured promotion with Derrychara United requiring a point to seal their place in Division Two while Orchard Farm need four points to do likewise and have five games yet to play.

We spoke to a number of managers to seek their opinion on finishing the season and what should happen.

Ryan Hanna

(Tummery Athletic)

“Obviously from our perspective we would love to finish the league off given the situation that we are in but we are well aware that nothing has been won or lost yet. We are also very aware that there is a bigger picture here and people’s health is the upmost importance and you have to be able to guarantee that before we resume playing.

I know it is easy for me to say but I think that voiding the league should not be an option if we are unable to conclude the season. At this stage of the season your place in the table is a fair reflection of where you are and maybe an average points per game model could be used. First and foremost though if it is safe to go back playing we would like to finish off the season.”

Michael Kerr

(Enniskillen Rangers)

“The boys have been missing football and that competitive action so to be able to get back at it and play our last six games would be great, regardless of where we finish. You would have to ask though would teams who have nothing to play for, or who are maybe sitting in the relegation zone, want to extend the season further and play out the remainder of the season, and I do think that there has to be a point that you get to where you say that we are not going to get it played.

There is time though for this all to clear up so no decision needs to be made just yet but the key thing is that it is only when it is completely safe to do so that we get back to playing games.”

Rory Judge

(Enniskillen Town)

We would like to get the season finished if it is possible but not to the detriment of the following season and I think that if the season hasn’t restarted in May then it should be null and void. You can’t have a case of wrapping up a season one week and then starting another one the next. I know that the league being null and void would be very hard on some teams, especially those who have already secured promotion, but this is a totally unprecedented situation and if we are going to go back to playing football then it has to be safe for everyone to do that.

Kyle McCleery

(Lisbellaw United)

I’m all in favour of finishing the league as long as we were back playing by the end of May or the start of June and I would be happy for it to run into the middle of July and then the start of next season pushed back a bit. I think finishing the league is the only fair way to do it in regards of promotion and relegation and also winning titles, you want to win it on the pitch. From our point of view we are not safe yet, we probably need another two wins but I would be keen to earn that by playing. I would have concerns though if the league was resuming after that, you are going to be asking a lot of players if they are expected to play three times a week for a number of weeks.

Scott Robinson

(NFC Kesh)

We have nine games left to play and we would be delighted if we were able to get them played and finish the league but nobody knows what is going to happen. Hopefully we will know better after the next three weeks and I would feel sorry for Tummery if the league wasn’t to be finished. One thing I would like to see if we are unable to finish the league is that the teams who have secured promotion get up and we just don’t have relegation this season but relegate extra next year. It would mean two bigger divisions for a season with a smaller Division Three but I think that would be fair on those teams who have won promotion.

Anthony Fitzpatrick

(Enniskillen Athletic)

Obviously, we would want the season to be finished and I think that we should run it off whenever it is that we can get back to playing safely, it could be run off in a few weeks. That might impact on next season and there is talk of a second wave of this coming in and if that happens then it could affect next season too, but I feel we need to finish this one. If the season doesn’t finish my problem with null and voiding it is that you are punishing the teams who did well and rewarding the sides who didn’t.

Gavin Connolly

(Enniskillen Galaxy)

I would fully support finishing the season as long as it would be safe to do so. It is hard to know when we are going to be able to get back playing but I don’t think null and void should be an option. The way I would look at it is that if you have played over 70 minutes of a game then the result stands and maybe it should be the same with the league and the table doesn’t lie.

We had guaranteed promotion this season and it would be hard to have that taken away.

Stephen Marron

(Orchard Farm)

We are sitting well in the table and are close to promotion so it is no surprise that we would want to finish the season. I think three weeks could finish it so I don’t see a reason why it would not be finished whenever we can get back to playing. For me, I don’t think that voiding the season would be fair on any team.

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