Hooker Ryan Cathcart has been named as the new Skins 1st XV captain for the forthcoming season, taking over the role from David Buchanan.

Skins are getting ready for pre-season as they look to build on last season’s achievement’s and coach Willie Gibson feels that Cathcart will make a good captain.

“He’s young, he has plenty of energy and he has had two very good seasons. Ryan would be one of our most reliable boys on the pitch, he is very consistent and on top of that he is a real clubman and I know he will do well as captain,” he commented.

Enniskillen’s senior men kick off their pre-season training next week in preparation for another year of competition. Last season, while littered with some heartbreak for the Skins men, was one of the most successful seasons in many years. The 1st XV, under the guidance of head coach Gibson, assistant coach Stevie Welsh, and David Buchanan as captain, ascended into the Qualifying 1 division with high hopes but plenty of uncertainty about what to expect. Then came a season of mostly exceptional highs along with some challenging lows. Some giant slaying over Instonians, a spell at the top of the table, a severe lull after Christmas, followed by an epic reprisal that claimed a fifth place league finish, narrowly missing out on the top 4; followed by a Town’s Cup Final where they pushed a very strong Ballynahinch II’s side to the very edge before a score in extra time ended Skins’ hopes once again.

Indeed, it was a second successive Towns’ Cup final defeat and Gibson admits that like last season, his players will go into this one with ‘unfinished business’.

“I suppose you could say that like the season before, we have unfinished business again this year and hopefully we can go out and build on what we did last year,” he added.

Elsewhere in the senior men last season there was more success as Richard Willis’ 2nd XV came runner up in their league and achieved promotion to Junior 3.

Stephen Tummon’s 3rd XV won their Ulster Regional Premier league and resultant provincial contest to claim the Ravenhill Cup, as well as reaching the semi-final of the McCambley Cup.

This upcoming season holds plenty of promise too as the bulk of the squad remains intact, with some promising additions coming through the youth system.

Pre-season training begins at Enniskillen next Tuesday, July 11.