Hogan Cup winning boss Dom Corrigan has ruled himself out of contention for the Fermanagh senior post.
The St Michael’s manager won the historic first A grade All-Ireland title with a panel of 35 Fermanagh players and was seen as a strong front runner for the post.
Also out of the running is Omagh CBS and Scotstown manager Kieran Donnelly. The Brookeborough man told the Fermanagh Herald that with the irons he currently has in the fire the county post isn’t a goer right now. For more on Donnelly’s withdrawal see page 92.
Meanwhile Corrigan is keen to follow up on last year’s colleges success and says the amount of time and effort that goes in to preparing a team at the level required for elite colleges football means he would not be able to commit to the equally exacting demands of county management.
“Being involved with the MacRory Cup side, it is really flat out from September to March. The level of preparation and detail involved in a college’s side is not dissimilar to the level required at county level,” said the St Michael’s supremo.
“There is no way that you could possibly do the two jobs simultaneously and I would probably have considered taking the Fermanagh job if I wasn’t still involved in colleges football, but the fact I am with St Michael’s would certainly rule me out of contemplating a return to the county manager position.”
Every manager dreams of taking charge of their native county, but Corrigan has already achieved that accolade. For now, he is ambitious to steer the Drumclay charge for successive MacRory and Hogan Cups with many of last year’s players still available.
“It is extremely difficult to get your hands on a MacRory never mind on a Hogan so once you get the experience of having your hands on it, you want to work even harder to retain it. Certainly that will be the ambition as well as the target coming back in September that we work hard in order to hold on to these two coveted trophies. The MacRory has been about Enniskillen a fair bit, the Hogan is here for the first time this year so when we have it here it would be brilliant to keep it here for another 12 months at least.
“We will certainly be working hard to maximise what is in the group and we are aware that champions always have a very big target on their back. The bottom line is that we have to be better this year than we were last year if we are to have another successful season.
“We really looking forward to that challenge. The players are chomping at the bit to get back. It is not often that you hear of students looking forward to coming back in September, but the lads are mad to see September 1st to come back again to get back into colleges football. It is extremely intense,
but it is probably the most enjoyable football of their lives that they will play.”
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