NOW FOR A TWIST IN THE THIRD ACT

Ricey geared up for latest instalment in tense rivalry

If everybody played the same it would be boring Pat Spillane says something on TV and three or four journalists think that it is the Gospel

AS IF familiarity did not already nourish Armagh contempt, the presence of Ryan ‘Ricey’ McMenamin on the Fermanagh sideline at Brewster Park this evening should help it along.

Given that this will be Kieran McGeeney’s third time eyeballing his old Tyrone foe inside three months, the novelty of seeing him in a Fermanagh bib is most likely beginning to wear off.

Still, the memory of him right in the eye of a red-hot storm is likely to be vivid for all those of the Orchard faith.

When their local rivalry turned into a national question in the early noughties, McMenamin was one of the lightning rods that made it spark.

Never more so than in that 2005 Ulster final when he dropped his knees onto the face of the prostrate John McEntee in an act which enraged but also showed just how utterly ruthless that rivalry had become.

Thirteen years on, he is still trim enough to tog out but these days he is in the business of lighting fires for others.

If nothing else, his partnership with Rory Gallagher will ensure that when it comes to a demonstrative side-line, Fermanagh are in a league all of their own.

The mistake, and it is one which McGeeney and Armagh are unlikely to make, is to think that is where it ends.

They have already returned Fermanagh to Division 2 and did so by putting their own stamp, even if it may not be to everyone’s taste.

In last year’s league, they shipped over 16 points per game while this spring their concession rate ran at barely 11 points per game.

When they met Armagh in a crunch regular round game, it finished 0-7 apiece but McMenamin feels no need to apologise to those purists left with heaving stomachs.

‘If everyone played the same way it would be boring enough to watch.

‘For me, personally, you have to cut your cloth. Fermanagh have to play in a certain way and they can’t go and play fifteen on fifteen against Tyrone. Not many teams can,’ he said.

‘We try to play as attractive a brand of football as we can,’ McMenamin continued. ‘At the same time, we have to be aware of what our strengths are.

‘And what has been a strength of Fermanagh down through the years is that they are a hard-working team and they make life as dif- ficult as possible for other teams.’

And yet such hard-nosed pragmatism, even when honed out of necessity, does not always go down well.

McMenamin believes there is a certain degree of ignorance at play, the kind which is informed by lazy perception rather than true analysis.

‘It is easy… Pat Spillane could say something on the TV and you could get three or four journalists that think it is the Gospel.

‘We try to play attacking football, but everyone knows that Championships are won in defence as well and you only have to look at Dublin against Tyrone last year.

‘The full-forward line on at their own 45, and they had fifteen behind the ball all the time. We are no different, Tyrone are no different, Armagh are no different. Everyone wants to win and sometimes you have to defend to win.

‘When you look at Liverpool, they try not to, but they always make sure they have eleven behind the ball as well. If we are pigeonholed, then so be it,’ he added.

Curiosity and convenience have brought McMenamin here. He coached the Tyrone minors for a couple of years but when he got the call from Gallagher enquiring as to his interest in joining his management team, he could not resist.

He lives just 10 miles from Fermanagh’s Centre of Excellence in Lissen, while he got a green light, or at least an amber one from home base.

‘I had to speak to my wife Maura and see if she gave me the okay. She said she didn’t, but I kind of went on anyway,’ he laughs. ‘It was one of those things. It was just too good an opportunity.

‘I enjoy coaching the youngsters in the club in Dromore so it was always something I took an interest in. I never thought that I would coach at inter-county level.

‘I was curious. When any county manager looks and wants to come and ask you to coach for any team, you do have to go and see what would be involved.

‘And lucky enough I had a chat with Rory about it.

The two of us sat over a coffee and football-wise, we probably hit it off. Once we had that chat, I decided it was a risk worth taking.’ Where it takes him, who knows? The most obvious place is back home at some stage in the future, where he still enjoys a good relationship with Mickey Harte.

‘He tells you what you like to hear most of the time,’ jokes McMenamin.

‘But in fairness, we can chat about different players and different things – the Tyrone set-up, different players within the county. It’s nice to be able to do that and he is open enough to do that.

‘I send him the odd text just to keep him on his toes every so often. I think there is no better man than Mickey to lead Tyrone and everybody in the county that is involved in coaching and football will know that and appreciate what he does.’

As for tonight, they are ready for a third meeting — Armagh defeated them in a high-scoring Divison 3 final at the end of March — with McGeeney’s men, who were in the headlines last month for an apparent breach of GAA rules when they travelled to Portugal for a warm weather training camp.

Fermanagh pockets don’t run quite that deep.

‘Armagh are probably at a great advantage to us at the minute,’ McMenamin explained.

‘Our boys have been playing club football and they have been training in Portugal. They are probably at a level above us because they have been away a few days more.’

An early dig just to remind them that he has not gone away.