Ryan McCluskey says that he is looking forward to getting down to work after he was named as part of Fermanagh Manager Kieran Donnelly’s management team.

McCluskey will come into the Senior set-up as a coach/selector and is grateful for the chance to work with the county he served with distinction as a player.

“I’m extremely proud and grateful for the chance to come in and work for my county and to be back involved with the green jersey that I loved playing for.

“It was something that when I moved into management I hoped would happen, and I’m just grateful for that opportunity.”

And McCluskey is now looking forward to working with his former Fermanagh team-mate Donnelly.

“I played alongside Kieran with Fermanagh and I worked under him when he was in with Peter Canavan; and he is somebody that I have always got on with.

“Kieran has certainly proven his worth at club football in recent years and from the conversations that we have had since he approached me, it really cemented my own decision and I’m grateful that he had lifted the phone and called me,” he added.

The Enniskillen Gaels clubman is well aware of the talent that there is in the county, having only retired from playing three years ago and he says that having managed Beragh in Tyrone, he feels that players in his own county are as good as anywhere else.

“I haven’t been that long out of the changing room, so I know the quality is in there.

“I had the opportunity to go to manage in Tyrone with Beragh – one that I was very grateful for – and I have really enjoyed my time there, and I don’t think I would have left for any other job.

‘An important step’

“Beragh was an important step in my own development and also what I saw was that our players are just as good, and have as much talent as there is elsewhere; we just might not have the same numbers,” he said.

And the management are therefore keen to have all the best players on board when they get down to work.

“There is a lot of quality, there is a mixture of some strong Senior players, and some strong lads coming through and hopefully we can get the whole thing moving forward.

“Hopefully, we can also tempt back those lads that are away at the minute – that would be a massive bonus.

“There is a lot of potential and we need all the best players in the county coming out. Your playing span is so short as well, and as a young lad you think you have a long time ahead of you, but it isn’t like that. Your county career can go by in a flash so it is important to make the most of it.”

So, what are the goals for Fermanagh?

“You want to try and improve Fermanagh football,” he said.

“I think for us it is a case of taking what we had before us and try and put our on stamp on what we are trying to do over the next number of years. From the start it has to be about development; it is important that we need to get back to a solid way of playing and get back to winning games – that’s the nature of the business that we are in.

“We are going to work as hard as we can to develop this side and get back to winning ways. We are hoping that we get the commitment from the squad whenever we pull it together and we can get back to a real high standard of work quality, and let’s see where that takes us.

“All you want when this comes to an end is to say that we gave it a real good shot,” he said.