The Senior Football League gets underway on Friday following a week's delay due to Fermanagh's involvement in the Tailteann Cup.

And while Fermanagh Gaels would have liked to see the Erne men go further than they did in the competition, all is not lost as they will be able to get their dose of Gaelic football from the county's club football scene.

And in Division One, a familiar question will be asked - can anyone stop Derrygonnelly?

The Harps have been the benchmark side for almost a decade and set the benchmark in league and championship football.

After Erne Gaels won it in 2022, Derrygonnelly resumed their dominance last year to take the league and championship double.

And in this year's Club Players' Competition, they went on to take three points into the league proper having won three games and drawn one in their group before beating Ederney in the first place play-off.

With Shane McGullion, Garvan Jones, Oisin Smyth and Rian McGovern to bolster the squad following the end of their involvement with Fermanagh the Harps will only go from strength to strength.

Ryan Jones stepped away from county commitments and will be to the fore in how Derrygonnelly play as will Leigh Jones, Stephen McGullion and Gary McKenna.

While Enniskillen Gaels did not have the best Club Players' Competition, in which they conceded nine goals against Devenish, they will be hugely strengthened by the returning county players.

Gaels manager, Simon Bradley admitted that getting the point to bring into the league would do his squad the world of good and with the likes of Johnny Cassidy, Conor McShea, Brandon Horan, Conor Lover, Callum Jones and Ross Bogue all coming back in they will be looking to push on as one of the league's main contenders.

Erne Gaels, under the watchful eye of ex-Donegal boss Declan Bonner, will be hoping they can pick up a second league title in three seasons.

They go in with two points and have Ultan Kelm to welcome back. Ryan Lyons is still recovering from injury and will likely miss most if not all the league.

Most of the team were part of the league-winning campaign and they have also been to the last two championship finals. That experience added to the knowledge Bonner has of winning could prove to be a successful combination. 

Ederney will welcome back Declan McCusker and Sean Cassidy from the Fermanagh set-up but they will be without the services of Conor McGee who was injured during Fermanagh's Tailteann Cup campaign.

Chris Kelly had the chance to blood some newer players in the Club Players' Competition and will be encouraged that they topped their group and brought two points into the league.

Kinawley will be without the services of Eoghan McManus this season as he headed to Australia recently and they will be hoping for improved performances coming into the league but Dom Corrigan is experienced enough to get them peaking when he needs them to be. They have reached the last two league finals so they know what it takes.

Tomás Corrigan, Paul and Ciaran Breen and Paddy McGovern will have to lead by example for the Borus to have a successful campaign.

Belnaleck will be glad to have Che and Lee Cullen as well as Darragh McGurn back from the county as they struggled throughout the Club Players'. But with Garvan Quigley heading Stateside, they have been dealt a blow in their attacking unit. Alongside McGurn they will be looking to Bryan Owens to lead the attacking line.

Derrylin will go into the league with one point after defeating Belnaleck in the play-off and it could come in vital this season.

Luke Flanagan is also away to America and with Danny Leonard also away on his travels they will be relying on the likes of Jake and Josh Smith, James Dolan and Ruaidhri McGoldrick to drive them on.

Belcoo left it until the last day of the league to secure survival last season and it could be another close one for them again this year as they start with no points on the board after the Club Players' Competition.

Injuries have hampered them with goalkeeper James McGrath ruled out for the season with a hamstring tear. But they welcome back experienced defender Ryan Leonard.

Paul McGrath, Eoin Shiels and Josh Killilea will hope to provide a platform for them and Michael Burns will add pace to their forward line.

Newly promoted and youthful Roslea will have their eyes set on survival.

But with Sean Quigley currently out following a knee operation they have lost their talisman.

The brother, Seamus, will likely become their target man with Niall Cosgrove and Micheal Flanagan providing the support. James McMahon's return from Australia should help bolster the defence.

Devenish also bounced back quickly from relegation to get promoted last season and they will feel they can make inroads further up the table.

Martin O'Brien and Sid Mulrone are back in charge and some of their performances in last year's Senior Championship showed they could compete at a higher level while in the Club Players' Competition, they put nine goals past Enniskillen to show their scoring threat.

The first round of league games could paint an early picture of how things may pan out with some interesting ties such as the derby between Belcoo and Devenish and Ederney against Kinawley.

But the main question will be can any of the top teams catch Derrygonnelly? At the other end, there could be little between those fighting for survival.

What the managers say

Paul Greene, Derrygonnelly: “As always, we are aiming to have a good league with the aim of getting as high as we can to set us up for a good crack at the Championship.”
 

Chris Kelly, Ederney: “We’re looking forward to the league getting up and going, though when that will be seems a bit up in the air at the minute. A lot of new faces and younger lads are going to be given a chance to stake their claim for places in the team this year which will hopefully bring a freshness and energy to the team and panel in general.
“There’s a good mix of youth and experience and everyone’s keen to get going.
“It’s a cliche but it really will be a case of one game at a time for us this year and looking no further than the next game. Hopefully, that will allow us to develop and improve the team as we go and build momentum through the league heading towards the championship. We’d be looking to show consistency throughout the large.”

Simon Bradley, Enniskillen Gaels: "It's probably our first year that we have had a significant number of players in the county and I can see that has its downsides. We tried to take the positives and say a lot of players are getting to play senior football earlier. It's about getting them back ni. We have had to play a particular style of football since the Devneish debacle but we will have more options when these players come back. But again you have to integrate them back in and that's not always as straightforward as it sounds."

Mickey McGillen, Belcoo: "Looking forward to the league. it's a massive task that we have to try and stay in Division One but hopefully, we will build on the games we have had so far and hopefully, we will be able to stay in the division."

Declan Bonner, Erne Gaels: "It will be interesting going into the league now proper with all the inter-county players back. It has been a few good months, and I am just looking forward to when the real football starts.

Dom Corrigan, Kinawley: "The Club Players'  Competition served a useful purpose as we blooded a number of young players and that was important.  The league is a step up again so we have to be ready for that."

Daniel Kille, Belnaleck: “We will draw a line through the CPL (Club Players' League) as it's now history. We know within the group what areas of our game we need to improve on and we will work on them over the next few weeks and eke out as much improvement as we can both individually and as a collective. The next game will be determined by Fermanagh's progress in TCup, but in the meantime, we will keep the heads down and work really hard on the training pitch and we will welcome our county players back to the group with open arms whenever that may be.”

Sean Donnelly, Derrylin: “Well the last couple of years, the number one target is staying up. This point from the Club Players’ could be a vital one for us come the end of the year. We’re short with some players heading away and a number of boys are retired, so, numbers are fairly low at the minute.”

Ciaran Murphy, Roslea: “We just want to be more consistent, we’re getting 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes (spells) but we just want to get more consistent. I suppose with the break now, we’ve a good few injuries, we’ll be able to get a few of them back. We’ll get a few challenge matches in and get a few boys back so it’s just about getting fitness levels up and getting boys back prepared.
“It was up and down for us. We won one, drew two, lost one and then lost to Devenish but we’ll take positives, we were in every game, went down to Erne Gaels and played well with 14 men among other good performances but just looking forward to getting at the league now.”

Marty O’Brien, Devenish: “Looking forward to the league starting proper now we were content enough with the Club Players’ Competition. We were patchy in it but there’s enough there for us to build on we think. So just looking forward to getting it going now really.”