Fermanagh GAA have confirmed that Kieran Donnelly will continue his role as Erne Senior Football manager for a fourth term.

Donnelly revealed this week that his fire for the role is still burning brightly and is looking forward to another season in charge.

“Look it’s a role I enjoy,” Donnelly said.

“That is made a wee bit easier by the players that we have involved, they are a great group that I enjoy working with and our management do as well.

"There’s no doubt there’s a massive workload to it and a massive commitment, but it’s a role that I don’t take lightly. As I’ve said before, any time you get a chance to manage your own county, it’s something you should put the most work into and approach as diligently as you should because it’s a role that requires a massive, massive amount of commitment, but I feel it’s always worth it.

"It was a role I was keen to continue on with because I do feel it’s a squad we have progressed and had a massive turnover of players this past two or three years. We have felt we have managed that well and we’ve had some good results these past three years, so, we just want to continue that and try to progress that as a group.”

After guiding Fermanagh back up to Division Two, Donnelly’s side suffered relegation this year and will return to Division Three next season but will take confidence from some impressive league displays last term.

They would go on to be knocked out of the Ulster Championship by Kieran McGeeney’s All-Ireland winning Armagh team at Brewster Park.

A devastating late goal from Antrim midfielder Cathal Hynds brought Erne hopes of a first semi-final appearance in the Tailteann Cup to a crushing end in June but that hasn’t deterred Donnelly who is eager to go again.

“I felt we had some real good performances throughout the league like up in Meath, our first game, the Kildare game, I felt some of our performances playing against the likes of Cork and Armagh in the league were really at a high level and that was the most pleasing thing,” he added.

“I suppose we started the league without several high-profile players, and we had a couple of injuries to the likes of Johnny Cassidy, and Ryan Lyons and with Luke Flanagan being away, all big players for us.

"I felt we managed that, with Darragh McGurn out as well, transition well into Division Two. It was a league that I really enjoyed. We finished our season well away to Cavan, down in Breffni, five points would have probably kept us up three years on the trot before that.

"That was probably the most disappointing thing. Seven points would have finished third in the division that’s how tight it was, so, the league was very enjoyable. We got beat by the eventual All-Ireland champions Armagh in Ulster which is competitive, and the Tailteann (Cup), we felt we were playing really well in the Tailteann. We had some great performances against Wicklow and Laois, and we won all our games up to the last game at home.

"We felt we just weren’t ruthless at that stage when we were on top and that was the disappointing thing because we played such good football. It was a year I enjoyed personally because I felt our performance levels were high.

"We just weren’t able to get over the line in key games and that’s something we are going to have to address going forward.”

Donnelly says there “may be one or two” that could potentially not return to the county squad but has had nobody officially pull out of last year’s squad.

Ultán Kelm’s return could be in doubt depending on how his trials go with AFL side Fremantle Dockers in Australia this summer.

Donnelly’s backroom team, for now, is still the same as they focus on club football with the championship approaching in the next few weeks.

“There is a bit of a gap with the club football and it’s good for the players to get away and back with their clubs because it’s such an intense environment, the county scene, and to go back and represent your club is the focus at the minute,” he continued.

“I suppose our task at the minute is just to go around the club games again and see if we have any new faces that can hold their hand up and maybe represent our county at the highest level and that really is my focus for the next three or four months.

"You do look forward to the start of it again and getting back together because the group do enjoy being together and they're always very committed. Their attitude and commitment levels have been a big factor in why we wanted to return.”