ON FERM FOOTING

Pharmacist Jones well placed to see o u t t h e s t o r m

WHEN you’ve just opened a new business, a global pandemic is not exactly manna from heaven.

But Fermanagh footballer Ryan Jones is philosophical about it and the fact that he’s a pharmacist means that, economically at least, he’s more immune to the impact of coronavirus than most.

Jones only opened the doors of RJS Pharmacy in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim, a joint venture with long-time friend John Slowey (below) , on December 11 last and while the restrictions of recent weeks have posed challenges, they’re largely still getting the same footfall, one way or another.

“People are trying to do the right things, which is to ring ahead in advance rather than being in the pharmacy for a sustained period of time,” he says. “We’re offering a delivery service as well.

“Also phones were a lot busier because doctors weren’t always seeing patients so they were phoning the doctor and the doctor had to fax or phone us down with the prescription. Things like that.

“For two weeks there it was very good, this last while since there’s been lockdown and stuff, it’s quietened down a wee bit. It’s definitely a busy period for us and we have to bring in different measures.

“We boxed off the whole front of the shop and different things like that, lining out two metres where people are going to be waiting, making sure they’re two metres apart.

“Every single person that comes through the door is new to us. We’re new, we’ve never been in the village before.

“At the end of the day, we’re providing a service to the local community and we need to do as much as we can to ensure that we do provide that.”

Working in the south while living in the north, the guts of an hour away in Enniskillen, Jones is better qualified than most to judge how the administrations on either side of the border have dealt with the crisis. “In the south, definitely with Leo (Varadkar), they seemed to be ahead of the game. They put more measures in place faster which I think was the right thing to do. “The lockdown and things like that happened faster and rightly so. You can argue that it was taken more serious compared to the likes of Boris ( Johnston) there. “Obviously they have followed suit in the UK and Northern Ireland so everyone’s in the same situation at the moment but I would say that definitely the Republic of Ireland acted a lot faster and rightly so.” And what of football? It will find its own place in time, says Jones.

“To be honest, in my profession, football, it’s definitely not a priority right now.

“My main priority is trying to help and get people through this as best as we can, coming together. That being said, I still miss football because I love it.

“Of course you can live without it. You will miss it but I haven’t thought about when will football be starting again because I think it’s important that we do the right things. Look, when it gets going again it’ll be the right time and I think everyone will just understand that.”