Cyril Dunne will be hoping to build on last season’s Tom Hogan Cup success as he continues as Fermanagh minor hurling manager.

Dunne was among four managers confirmed by Fermanagh GAA last week to reprise their role from last year.

He is going into his eighth year as Erne boss after initially starting his stint as joint-manager alongside Brian Johnston, for a three-year spell.

“I suppose with the success we had last year, it would have been a shame to walk away because it’s a good bunch of lads coming through,” Dunne said.

“Plus, some of the lads asked me to make sure I was staying on. After eight years, I was thinking it might be time for somebody else, but when people are asking you to stay on and push their children on further it kind of pushes you on.

"The backroom team I have, Damien Palmer, Colm McPhillips, Luke Dempsey and Paul Rafferty, our physio, are all mad keen to get back at it again next year.”

Fermanagh lifted the Celtic Challenge Corn Tom Hogan Cup at the end of last season as they defeated Leitrim in Ballyshannon with a convincing scoreline of 1-19 to 0-04.

When asked about retaining the title, Dunne said: “Well that would be the target. To be honest, when we had our full team this year, we were beating anybody and we should have been in the division above, I think, looking back on things.

"We have dual players, we have footballers who will play football when it's on which I'll never complain about, I always encourage them to play the football. There are transferable skills from football that they can bring to hurling and they’re usually very fit as well.

"Louth are the division above us and we beat Louth in the last game of the group. To me, I think we should be targeting a division above and, at worst, retain the Tom Hogan Cup.”

Clashes with county football affected the hurling side’s league campaign last year with dual players, Dan O’Connor and James Tierney, leading their scoring against Leitrim.

“It’s a very simple way of fixing it, just make sure there is no football and hurling on the same day,” added Dunne, who expressed his frustration during last season.

“The lads have no problem playing a game of football on a Saturday and then coming to play hurling on Sunday, or vice versa. As long as their training load isn’t too heavy, there’s no problem playing two games over a weekend.

"It makes a big difference, and this year, we’ll probably have more lads that are involved with the football.”