Age is only a number – Campbell

VETERAN hotshot Ryan Campbell says there is no particular secret to his longevity in the game or his ability to continue to score goals at a decent level.

At Saturday evening’s Fermanagh and Western awards, sharpshooter Campbell was named Player of the Year for a second time, having previously secured the honour for the 2021-22 season.

The NFC Kesh player-manager turns 43 in a little over a week’s time and still he is scoring for fun in the local junior league.

Campbell found the net 31 times in the season just finished and has no intentions of hanging the boots up any time soon.

Asked what the secret was he said, “I don’t do anything special, the young lads keep me going and active.

“For me age is only a number. If I’m fit and able to keep up with the young boys I’ll keep going as long as I can. I’m glad to be able to do that.

“Obviously after I got married and had the children I’ don’t be out partying as much! It’s a very rare occasion now.

“My wife cooks good dinners and I always have a good packed lunch, and that’s important. I’m eating healthier and at my age you try and look after yourself better, I suppose that’s just experience.”

While Kesh picked up more than their fair share of individual honours – four players made the Team of the Year with Danny Wilson scooping the Young Player gong – the north Fermanagh side again missed out on major silverware.

The Michael Connolly Park outfit finished third in Division One having pushed Tummery and champions Enniskillen Rangers all the way while in both the Mulhern and Irish Junior Cup, Campbell and company fell at the quarter-final hurdle.

It’s been 22 years since Kesh managed to get their hands on a major trophy and Campbell admits it’s high time that the club ended their drought.

That said the player-boss insists there will be no added pressure from him.

“When I took over at Kesh the morale in the team was very low,” he continued.

“There appeared to be a lot of issues within the club.

“The first thing I did was to try and make things enjoyable. You play football because you love the game.

“When you stop enjoying it, you don’t play your best. I installed that first.

“This season I made a few signing to cover the right areas, we lifted the morale and the atmosphere at the club.

“Every Saturday I sent the players out to enjoy it, one game at a time. I told them to put a smile on their face and go out and play.

“We pushed it until the last day of the season and we achieved that because we were enjoying it. We won no trophies but what pleased me most was that everyone came in after the game with a smile on their face.

“For me that was more rewarding than anything else.

“Don’t get me wrong the ambition is to win trophies but when I first came to Kesh there was too much pressure on trying to win silverware and they kept falling flat on their face.

“I have been in enough changing rooms to know that you play your best football when you’re enjoying it. To be fair to the boys they did that this season and we weren’t far away. Now we need to kick on again.”

(FULL F&W AWARDS COVERAGE IN THIS WEEK’S TYRONE HERALD)