FERMANAGH manager Ryan McMenamin has clarified reports about the players who have departed his panel. While four players are no longer part of the team, the former Tyrone All-Ireland winning defender says that he thinks that the panel has a freshness and expects a number of new faces to make their mark in 2021.

McMenamin confirmed that Ryan Jones, Tomas Corrigan, Ruairi Corrigan and Conall Jones left the panel in November.

“For me it is old news. The squad knew about this for about a month. There were no qualms about it.

“We had a team meeting, and each of the lads told me that they didn’t want to continue for different reasons. Ruairi and Conall felt that they should have been playing more this year. They were disappointed with the amount of game time that they got. Their opinion was different to ours, which was fair enough, but they decided not to continue.

“Tomas Corrigan said that work was going to dictate his time. And Ryan said that he felt that he had no more to give as a player. He’s involved with the u-20 management so he is still part of the set up.

“I think for Tomas and Ryan it was an easier decision for them as they are in their 30s and have been playing for a while.”

McMenamin said that he felt that there was no animosity about the decisions. Yet he believes that the squad is in a good place.

“We have players coming in, and players coming back. There is a freshness to the squad. We have a panel of 40-45. Sean Quigley is back trying to get his place. Michael Glynn is in there, Tiernan Daly is in there. There are a lot of new faces from the championship as well. I think there is a real freshness about it.”

In a recent interview with Gaelic Life, McMenamin admitted to being a little embarrassed about the performance of Fermanagh.

He felt that he had not got the most out of the team after they were relegated out of division two, and lost to Down in the championship. He emphasised this week that there is work to be done.

“I don’t think you could be anything but annoyed about the year. But we have four or five weeks now and we are working very hard. We can’t train collectively until January 14, but the players are working hard. There is every reason to be positive and there are some great players coming through.”