By Cian O’Connell

“It has been good in one way, and bad in another way,” Ryan McMenamin laughs when asked about becoming a senior inter-county manager in the unprecedented year of 2020.

The Fermanagh boss has faced all sorts of challenges in recent months, but his desire for Gaelic Football endures. McMenamin isn’t looking for any excuses, the former Tyrone star simply wants to get on with preparing his team for the Ulster Championship.

“Look, I think every manager is the same, and I was chatting to Michael Fennelly there the other day,” McMenamin states. “We were just going on about it with it being our first year it has been a bit hectic, but it is what it is we can't change it.

“We can just probably try to learn from the experience more than anything else. I've been involved in the inter-county scene for the past couple of years, but this has been the same for everybody.

“One thing you do become is better organised. I do hate to see the phone going off at the minute. If you get a WhatsApp from a player it is usually means your heart is in your mouth.”

Undoubtedly, that is one of the issues presently, but how does McMenamin seek out information and advice from elsewhere.

“I'd always be in contact with other managers and coaches, who you would have known through friendships,” McMenamin replies.

“It was just by chance I got in contact with Michael. The two of us we had a conversation about management, his first year, my first year. I picked a lot of good stuff off him, and I think he picked a lot of good stuff off me.

“I think he had a Covid situation himself so I think he was trying to pick my brains about how we managed with the players.

“It is something I would have done, but I've found it worthwhile, especially coming from a different code. It is always nice to pick up something different from someone else.”

Despite missing key personnel Fermanagh summoned two gutsy Allianz Football League displays when losing to Clare and Laois. Moral victories aren’t on the agenda for Fermanagh, who were relegated to Division Three.

“They are two games we should have won regardless,” McMenamin reflects. “We have a better team and a better squad, if we put our hands on our heart, the only game we didn't deserve anything from in this whole league was Armagh, where they were the better team all over.

“We don't want at the same time to be crying about the amount of Covid people we had or players self isolating. Other counties would feel that we are probably always crying about it, but we wanted to go out to play football.

“The decision we took not to train was more to do with the health and wellbeing of the team more than anything else. I didn't want to be saying one thing in the paper - that we aren't going to train - and then maybe doing absolutely something else behind the scenes.

“That is not my style, it is what it is. We should have beaten Laois, we should have seen it out. We were missing a few, but at the same time you'd like to think the young players that have come on have gained great experience.

“At the same time it is hard knowing we only have two or three weeks prep and we should have won the two games. There is a good side and bad side, but when you watch the videos back you are a bit more angry that you could have beaten the two of them which is hard to take.”

There is no disputing the fact that the 2020 Ulster campaign will be radically different, but McMenamin is excited about the prospect ahead of Sunday’s quarter-final against Down.

“Once you come to the Championship anything can happen,” McMenamin remarks. “Anything can happen, there will be close contacts, fellas through no harm of their own could contract Covid.

“All of a sudden you could have a couple of players showing a great bit of form that maybe didn't get League football near the tail end, probably wanting to prove a point.

"As you've seen through the 2020 Club Championships anything can happen, it is probably the year of the underdog.”