It’s obvious Fermanagh hurling manager, Joe Baldwin means business and after drawing Cavan in the championship during the week, they have upped the anti, and the count down to the start of their competitive season is well and truly underway.
“We’ve only got 15 places and it’s really up to the players, if they want a place on the league team and subsequently the championship team, they’ve got to show now.
Last week inter-county training resumed and Fermanagh’s first session was in Aughnacloy, on a 3G pitch.
“The thinking behind that session is two-fold, it’s as close to a half-way venue with the boys coming from Belfast and that session is a hurling session, so that’s the fast ball that we’re looking for. You can see in the couple of days of dry weather that we’ve got how much the ground has dried up and the fact the pitches haven’t been used, they’re going to be fast. That was the thinking behind that.”
Mallards make it 3 wins from 3 friendlies Posted: 6:06 pm April 23, 2021
By Katrina Brennan
There has been no shortage of goals for the Mallards, having netted 15 goals in three games and only conceding three.
Annagh Utd, Portstewart and Dungannon Swifts have provided the opposition for manager Harry McConkey’s side but he’s reading little into the results.
“The great joy from all three games is that I’ve seen how much the boys have enjoyed being back on the pitch and they have reflected that, we’ve been able to score a few goals but the results have meant absolutely nothing to me, it’s purely the fact that we are trying to increase our fitness levels and our game time to have some sort of a chance of trying to compete on the May 1.
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Ben McCaffrey is one to watch Posted: 6:25 pm April 18, 2021
By Katrina Brennan
SIXTEEN years old and brimming with confidence, not arrogance, just confidence. And why wouldn’t he be. Newtownbutler teenager Ben McCaffrey has already beaten former world champion Michael van Gerwen twice and has recently been endorsed by the Welsh manufacturing company Winmau.
Ben has been coming through the ranks after taking up the sport at a competitive level at 12 years old. He began playing in his local bar An Chead Chumann in his hometown and a year later he was playing an an exhibition tournament in the Great Northern hotel in Bundoran beating the legendary van Gerwen.
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Courteney raring to go again Posted: 6:16 pm April 15, 2021
By Katrina Brennan
Courteney Murphy will continue as Fermanagh ladies captain for the 2021 season. Murphy was captain last December when Fermanagh won the All Ireland Junior title against Wicklow, but the Kinawley woman was ruled out of that game through injury but delivered a passionate and memorable speech as she lifted the cup in Croke Park, on that momentous day.
Devenish player Aisling Maguire and Murphy’s fellow club player, Joanne Doonan will be joint vice captains for the 2021 season. Murphy took over the captaincy from Doonan in 2019 after she left for Australia to play for Carlton in the AFLW, and admits she had “big boots to fill” but is delighted that the management have put their faith in her once again.
Before the 23-player squad could hit the hallowed turf of Ferney Park though, the very important matter of Covid tests had to be carried out on players and coaching staff.
“You’re sitting there and you’re hoping it’s a straight line, those are wee things that are not the norm” says Ballinamallard manager, Harry McConkey.
But after 14 weeks of no football due to restrictions, he admits some people were a little apprehensive about it all.
“Some of the players and coaches, who you’d think would be well used to dealing with situations of planning and everything else, they had a wee nerve in their tummies because they had been away so long.