Ferguson has recovered from ankle surgery this season.
He said: “I’m getting there. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be since surgery.
“It’s hard to say, as soon as it happens, a timeline. It just depends on your body, but I’m glad I didn’t rush it and now I’m back and I’m feeling good and I’m probably in the best shape I’ve been in.”
He added: “It’s hard to turn off all media, but I think anyone who is looking at Irish football knows that all talk is sort of negative about it.
“Even with the win tonight, I’d say there’ll be a lot of negative about it. But you just have to try and block it out and try to do your best.
“That’s the way it has been, and especially since I’ve been in. For nearly two years now, it’s always been that way and it’s stayed that way, so we just need to try and turn it around.
“It’s obviously a lot more negative than positive, so I think we just sort of said we’ll stay away and come together as a team. Whatever anyone says, they don’t play football.”