Woods optimism for new year

Lisnaskea and Fermanagh’s John Woods

YEAR one of Peter Canavan’s reign as Fermanagh manager was all about the groundwork, year two will be about significant progress – that’s the view of Erne footballer John Woods as he reflected on an up and down season for the Ulster side.

Despite the main goal of the season, promotion, being achieved, the defender admits that there was a sense of disappointment amongst the team and management at how the 2012 season ended.

Their competitive record in Canavan’s first year stood at played 15, won 11, lost three and drew one – enough for promotion from division four but also enough to ensure two losses in two championship games to Down and Cavan.

“We were a bit disappointed with how the season went,” said the 26-year-old Lisnaskea man. “But our main aim was to get out of division four, and we did that.”

Assessing the Cavan match, when the side led by six points with 20 minutes remaining before losing by seven, Woods said he was unsure at how it all went wrong.

“In that match I thought we were steady enough,” he recalled. “I thought we had played pretty well for three-quarters of the match before the collapse.
“It all went wrong obviously, which was annoying as we were in such a good position and that was the season over.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday August 9. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent, or you can purchase the online version – for only 90p – by clicking here