Ryan McMenamin: Fermanagh football manager steps down after two years in charge

Fermanagh football manager Ryan McMenamin has opted to cut short his scheduled three-year term by stepping down after two seasons in charge.

In his first season at the helm, the Erne County were relegated to Division Three of the interrupted League after being severely hit by Covid-19.

Fermanagh retained their Division Three status this year but lost both their championship games during his term.

McMenamin told BBC Sport NI that his departure had been "totally amicable".

"The players are a good bunch of fellows. Great clubs and great people but I just felt myself it was time to move on," said the Dromore man.

"I came in in 2020 and the county board wanted me to blood a team and a lot of the good young players coming through.

"We sat down with the county board and there was maybe going to be a lot of short-term pain starting off. We knew that was going to come hopefully for long-term gain.

"I had probably had the realisation that it was going to be the next man after me who was going to prosper."

With McMenamin also assistant to previous boss Rory Gallagher for two years, he also had a concern that the players "might get tired of listening to the same voice".

However, he believes his stint nurtured young talent whom his successor will reap the benefits of.

"We left a base of some great young players - Sean McNally, Johnny Cassidy, Luke Flanagan, Josh Largo Ellis, Shane McGullion, Ultan Kelm, Brandon Horan….they are all under-22.

"I do hope that whoever comes in keeps giving the young fellows the opportunity because I think there's a great base to build with."

Several experienced players opted out of the squad this year, including three sets of brothers as Che Cullen, Lee Cullen, Ryan Jones, Conall Jones, Tomas Corrigan and Ruairi Corrigan were all unavailable to McMenamin.

The former Tyrone defender refused to use this as an excuse for his team's inability to return to Division Two or to play up the narrow margin of several of his team's league defeats last year as they were relegated.

"Those men put in great service for Fermanagh over 10 years or whatever so it's their free choice. Did it affect the squad? I don't think it did.

"There have been plenty of departures even in Tyrone - three, four or five - and there wasn't as much made of it. In the Dublin set-up, players are leaving all the time. It's an amateur sport.

"I'm a firm believer that regardless of your numbers, there's no point chasing people to come and play football. If they are not bought in, you're banging your head up against the wall long-term.

"Short-term you might get your goals but doing that continually long-term, you are on a hamster wheel.

"And you can say I was unlucky with this and I was unlucky with that but look…..you make your own luck. I'm a firm believer. If we didn't win it in the game, then we weren't good enough."

McMenamin also refused to resort to using the Covid cases last October which ravaged the Erne squad for their crucial Division Two contest against Clare.

"We were done with the Covid but as you can see with Tyrone, that can happen to anybody. You've just got to try and make the best of it."

While stepping away from his Fermanagh role, McMenamin will continue his coaching role with the St Macartan's Ladies team in Tyrone and joked that he also planned to get back to "surfing very badly" on his paddle board.

This year, Fermanagh's League season got off to a tremendous start as they defeated then Ulster Champions Cavan at Brewster Park but a heavy defeat by Derry followed and they needed a nervy home draw with Longford to avoid slipping into a relegation play-off.

Under the condensed and regionalised League system in operation this year, those results were enough to put Fermanagh into the Division Three semi-finals but their hopes of promotion were ended by a 1-14 to 0-12 defeat by Offaly.

With the Football Championship straight knockout over the last two years because of the global pandemic, McMenamin's side only had two games in football's premier competition as they lost at home to Down last November before bowing out in Ulster last month when losing 1-21 to 0-14 against Monaghan.

Responding to McMenamin's departure, Fermanagh GAA wished him and his backroom team "every success for the future".

"Fermanagh County Committee would like to thank Ryan and his entire backroom team for all their hard work and commitment over the last two years," said a Fermanagh statement.