Ryan Jones accepts that the time has come for him to step up and become a Fermanagh leader.

The Ernemen have lost a raft of players to intercounty retirement since the summer and key attacker Jones acknowledges the need for he and his team-mates to step into the breach:

"Boys like myself, Eoin Donnelly, Ryan McCluskey, Barry Mulrone and Marty O'Brien have been there for a number of years and we knew the older generation weren't going to be around forever," he notes in The Irish News.

"We knew there would come a time when those lads would call it quits and we would be viewed as the more experienced lads on the team and that is a challenge for the year ahead.

"There's no reason why we can't step up and be leaders. We are a fresh panel and we are looking to get going in the McKenna Cup.

"Our last game was in the middle of June so it's been a while since we played together. Automatically, there was five or six spots for new lads because of the retirements."

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