A new season dawns for Enniskillen Skins as they prepare for their first competitive game of the season against Lurgan in the Junior Cup.

This Saturday's game at Mullaghmeen will see Skins led out by their new captain, James Ferguson. The experienced centre has been a pivotal player for the club, but he does not plan to change much as he takes over the captaincy from Stephen Fox.

Admitting it is a "nice honour" to captain the club, which holds many family links, Ferguson added: "I suppose really on the pitch or playing-wise, it won’t make much of a difference."

Ferguson knows there is plenty of experience around him, and with leadership groups introduced by coach Alastair Keys, he will be able to lean on others. "With Stephen Fox as captain last year, he will still be playing, and I won’t be trying to change a huge pile from what he did. There are younger lads who have experience, even though they are only a few years into playing. I will be leaning on them a lot. It will be very much a shared thing," he said.

This shared approach will be part of the system that will hopefully see Skins continue to build on the success of last year. They just missed out on the opportunity to move up to the All-Ireland League to Ballyclare, but they did round off their season with victory in the Towns Cup.

"I suppose you could say it was successful overall," Ferguson reflected. "We were disappointed not to win the league. Maybe we surprised ourselves that we were competing for it halfway through the season. Once you get into that competition, you want to win it from there on. In that way, it was disappointing, but to finish up with the Towns Cup was a nice thing.

"This year, we are competing in four competitions, including the All-Ireland Junior Cup. We are in those four competitions, and if you are being honest, you are not in them just to compete—you want to win them. That means, particularly in the cups, you have to be flawless, but in the league as well. The last few years, teams have lost a maximum of one game to win it. So, you’ll have to be basically flawless, and for that, we'll need to build a squad, which we have been doing over the summer."

Ferguson has been impressed with the new and returning faces to the squad. He admitted that Skins find it harder than more urban clubs to attract new signings and have to rely on coaching and players moving through the club to bolster the senior squads. However, he noted that this has its positives.

"We have got a good five or six lads coming straight out of school who have made a big difference. They are very confident and fitting in really well. The coaching at the school helps, and the coaching from the youth Skins has helped. We have Michael Rooney coming back from Queen's University, which will be a huge boost. Other returning players like Paddy McCleery and Nathan Cullinan have really impressed in pre-season. I'm looking forward to seeing them play in competitive games.

"James Trotter has impressed in pre-season and will make a push. They have looked good, and as I say, with their coaching in school and Skins youth, they fit in pretty seamlessly. They are a lot better equipped than when I was going out to Skins."

Ferguson continued: "The way we are, where we are situated, you can’t really attract players like Belfast clubs can from other clubs, and you have to build from within. In a way, that makes us stronger as a team."

With recent games, including a tour to Dundee and a visit by Dublin club Suttonians, under their belt, Ferguson and the Skins squad are keen to get into competitive action. He knows the early games will show who will be competing for league promotion, with several clubs in the mix.

"Bangor have come down from AIL, so I can imagine them being quite strong and looking to go straight back up. I know Dromore have strengthened a lot. They have got a lot of players in with AIL experience, which, as I said, we can’t really do. We have grown well from within and got players back who are homegrown, and that makes the bond a lot stronger having those sorts of guys. Bangor, Dromore, and Cooke could potentially compete up [in Championship One]."

While Ferguson stated that the club aims to win every competition they are in, he said gaining promotion to the AIL is their main goal.

"We have made that clear, and I suppose when your nearest rival—you watch Clogher going up, and fair play to them—it’s sort of a motivation, and it shows that it can be done. And being honest, that really is the aim: to try and get up to AIL. You must win the league first and then go through a play-off. It's not an easy process where you basically have to be flawless for all those games."