Saffrons and students

There have been a few occassions in recent years when Antrim's senior footballers and hurlers have been in action on the same day, the rare event is when they both win, and the 24 January will not be added to that meagre list.

The footballers could only progress to the semi final of the McKenna cup through an unlikely set of results which included our winning today V Queen's University by a significant margin. The management of the team wisely said in the run up to this afternoon's game that a win was the important thing, no matter what else happened. It was a tight affair with both Justin Crozier and Declan O'Hagan showing well for the students, while for an under strength Antrim side James Loughrey again showed up very well as did old stagers McGreevy in goals, Kevin Brady and Ciaran Close. Trailing by five at the break Antrim hit five in a row to draw level and with the signigicant assistance of Paddy Cunningham sprung from the bench, we traded points with Queen's before easing ahead as injury time began. Antrim held out for the win, and it was deserved. One notable feature of our play was the work rate and the 'hassle factor' of our half forwards, not letting the ball out easily is now an Antrim habit and today brought about two consecutive points at important stages.

Tougher battles will follow and its not all eyes on the league game v Sligo two weeks from today.

Two years ago our hurlers won the Walsh Cup, in what turned out to be the highlight of the Sambo / Woody reign. This year the Dubdlin students turned the tables and delivered a big defeat. Details are short but whatever way you look at it a 4-20 - 3-10 reverse is a poor result. Again, the league is what really matters and we look forward to the first game v Carlow a month from now.

Today the saffrons took on the students in both codes, the footballers have been found to be getting results while our hurlers, must do better.

A good start in the Casement air

The last time Antrim footballers beat Derry was - from memory - about a dozen or fourteen years ago. I was there, an away league match somewhere in south Derry, and we 'stole' the game with two late goals. That's about all I can remember.

That long gap between victories was ended today with a one point win over the Derry men in the opening round of the McKenna Cup. The match started like it might run away from the saffrons, Derry racing into a 5 point lead after 15 minutes. But as they say, goals win matches, and we scored 3 of them in the course of the game. There were flaws for sure, scorable frees which were dropped into the keepers hands, some very bad passes and one line ball sent straight over the line again. But there was also a determination to not let the game go and some of the returning players such as Michael Magill made an decent impact.

Paddy Cunningham was very effective, especially in the first half, while James Loughrey got through a tremendous volume of work. He put in a couple of inspirational tackles late on which helped stall an emerging Derry recovery.

Dara Edwards made an impact on his introduction after about 25 minutes and Michael McCann picked up where he left off last summer, his goal was especially well taken.

So in the last 5 competitve outings we have beaten Cavan, Donegal and now Derry. Hopefully the list of Ulster counties to be feared by Antrim is dwindling to zero.

This was the biggest crowd I have seen in Casement for a McKenna Cup match and hopefully that level of support will increase as we approach the all important National League.

A good start is a half the battle, today Antrim's footballers had a good start.

Reasons to be cheerful

So here we are a few days away from the beginning of another intercounty GAA season. In the past McKenna Cup has not exactly set saffron pulses racing but I think we can expect that a decent sized crowd will turn up in Casement this Sunday at 1pm in what is the football team's first competitive outing since 26th July 2009.That day in Tullamore we almost pulled off the GAA shock of the decade, and travelling the long road home the feeling was one of pride mixed with disappointment.

Last year the prelimary competition saw us losing all three games, with the defeat to Queen's University a particularly heavy one. So we wont predict the future of 2010 on the basis of Sunday's result or the overall performance in the McKenna Cup. but victories are better than defeats so let's hope we get a result and a positive performance.

Reasons to be cheerful in 2010:

1. We haven't lost as many players to colleges this season so our football team should be more coherent as we approach the league.

2. We are missing the St Galls players but for a damn good reason! Imagine them winning the all Ireland club title and those players (we'll leave the question of how many for another day) coming into the squad as we approach the last round of Division 3 matches, just in time to help clinch promotion!

3. Even without the St Galls and university players our football squad already looks strong on paper - and I realise thay gaelic games aren't played on paper.

4. Dinny's back! Hopefully the senior hurling squad can show a dedication to training and playing that matches that of our prodigal coach.

5. In drawing Offaly in the Leinster Hurling Championship we at least come up against a team whcih does not present a psychological hang up. We can and do beat Offaly from time to time.

So if the sight of a saffron jersey lifts your spirits and the sight of a winning Antrim team puts a spring in your step, bookmark Saffron First and let's enjoy 2010.