Ryan McMenamin to succeed Gallagher as Fermanagh boss

Fermanagh players have given a huge seal of approval to their new manager, multiple All-Ireland winning former Tyrone player Ryan ‘Ricey’ McMenamin.

The Dromore man was appointed as Rory Gallagher’s successor at a county board meeting last night.

He brings his former Tyrone team mate, Joe McMahon with him as another coach, and his former manager from his club playing days, Paul McIver.

At present, McMahon is coaching the Clogher club in Tyrone while McIver had left Killyclogher at the start of the year following a number of successful seasons at Down’s highly-decorated Kilcoo.

It is understood that members of the county executive had reached out to a number of senior county players over the last several weeks and their feedback was that they would like to retain the services of McMenamin, who goes into his first management job of a senior team.

He has some experience at coaching with a senior squad before, having led St Macartan’s ladies to an Ulster club title in 2017, and was part of Rory Gallagher’s backroom team for the last two years as Fermanagh won promotion from Division Three in 2018 and reached an Ulster final, and retained their Division Two status last year.

Defensive stalwart Declan McCusker welcomed the news, saying: “He has very good man-management skills. All of the boys would get on very well with him and if he felt somebody was struggling or felt somebody was needing to chat, he would be there or give them a shout, pull them out and have a wee word.

I think everyone gets on well with him because of his man-management. Boys said we wanted Ricey involved one way or another for the continuity.

There were fears that Che Cullen would not make himself available in 2020. The 2018 All-Star nominee works for First Derivatives in Bulgaria and it was doubtful whether he could continue to travel home at weekends to represent his county. However, it’s understood that with the appointment of McMenamin he is happy to make the regular journeys.

“Che got on very well with Ricey,” said McCusker. “I think he was thinking anyway that whoever was going to come in, he was prepared to try and do the training on his own. He is some kind of a freak athlete. He seems to come home flying. I know Ricey has no issue with it and you wouldn’t like to be going into the year without him.”

However, Fermanagh do have some concerns ahead of their 2020 campaign. The experienced defender Barry Mulrone who has been playing for over a decade is believed to be retiring, while Che Cullen’s twin brother Lee is said to be travelling, as is attacker, Ryan Lyons.

Eamonn McHugh, who appeared in the 2018 Ulster final, is also believed to be retiring after fighting against persistent injuries.

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