Fermanagh GAA were to appoint Maguiresbridge clubman Keith Reilly recently as the new Fermanagh Minor boss for 2015 and Reilly admits he cannot wait to get started, “Im very much looking forward to getting started. Its going to be a young squad this year with the bulk of the squad made up of last years Fermanagh Under-16 development side.”
Reilly continued, “We will feel the effects of not being able to field at Under-17 level last year. So in affect we will now be playing catch up to the other Counties now.”
Fermanagh will face Antrim once again in the Ulster championship on May 31st, a Saffrons side that also accounted for Fermanagh in last years Championship, 5-10 to 2-8. Reilly is all too aware what Antrim have in store, “They will not be easy and they are a side that like to score goals, so we will have to prepare for that. They also have a lot of the Antrim development squad in play already so that shows where they are at.”
Reilly brings a wealth of experience to the job which seen him train the Maguiresbridge footballers for 4 seasons until 2013 in which they won 2 Division 3 crowns, a Division 2 semi final and in his final season lost out to Enniskillen Gaels in an Intermediate final, while last year he helped Niall Jackman with the Fermanagh minor side.
Fermanagh start their Ulster Minor league campaign on Monday March 16th with a home tie against Donegal, Reilly will see his charges at first hand this Sunday with a first training session planned, “We plan to use the league to assess the squad with the plan to compete and build for Antrim which I firmly believe we can pass and book an Ulster Semi final date. We really need clubs to invest more in their players and ensure our best players are making themselves available for the County.”
Reilly now gets to work immediately with the squad and he also has a strong management panel behind him that he hopes to add to, “Colum Monaghan will come in as the trainer while John O’Neill will work as physio. I am currently speaking to another trainer as well at the moment and hopefully he can come back to us soon. Im also hoping to confirm a new goalkeeping coach in the next few days.”
One thing is for sure, Reilly will be up against it from the very start as every other Ulster County have been training from well before Christmas. All clubs in Fermanagh will wish him well and hopefully he can record a first Fermanagh minor win since we beat Derry in 2011.
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