Moving up the gears

The inter county season is well and truly underway, and as a dual county we are facing into a run of weekends of crucial games for both our footballers and hurlers, both teams having notched two wins in their opening two games.

Antrim footballers play Fermanagh on Saturday evening under floodlights and in the three successive weekends afterwards both the hurlers and footballers are in action. Any diehard supporter who attends the full suite of county games will find themselves in Tullamore, Roscommon, Westmeath, Wexford and of course Casement before the season is out. Some unfortunate fixture scheduling means that our most attractive hurling fixture - at home to Clare - clashes with what will hopefully be a vital promotion seeking football game V Offally in Tullamore on 21st March. I understand that any appeal to the CCC to bring the Clare game forward by a day would meet with a point blank refusal, so a choice will have to be made on the day.

It is a problem which those counties dedicated to one code only don't have to contemplate, but I'd sooner be in our position than theirs.

We'll have a closer look at the Fermanagh game closer to the weekend.