With both Antrim senior team's exiting their respective championships at the firt hurdle, saffron attention is firmly fixed on the qualifier route.
Despite some cynics being 'certain' that we would draw Tipp in the hurling, that draw was made last night and Antrim even managed to avoid the preliminary round. Carlow will play Laois in that fixture with the winners due to come to Casement on
3rd July. Whichever team emerges from the prelim tie will receive full respect, and in fact Laois have the upper hand in our recent battles in league and championship. While Casement Park will hold no fear for them, there is no doubt that we avoided the bigger names and, following the encouraging display V Offaly last Sunday, the summer remains wide open for our hurlers.
On 23rd May following defeat to Tyrone the qualifier route held open the possibility of a 'handy draw' for the footballers. The closer we get to the draw (due this coming Sunday) the more difficult the prospect is looking. Some big names are already in the hat, especially after 'suprise' defeats for Kildare and Mayo at the weekend. Mind you anyone genuinely surprised at Sligo's defeat of Mayo wasn't really paying attention during the league. In there with Clare, Carlow, Leitrim, Longford and London we can add more daunting prospect of Mayo, Derry, Kildare or Armagh.
Our track record in the back door system does not offer much comfort. From memory, we beat Leitrim in Casement in 2001 following our defeat to Derry in the Ulster C'Ship, only to draw Derry in the next round and lose. And for qualifier victories........that's it. In subsequent years we suffered qualifer defeats to, Westmeath (by a point, in Casement)Armagh (Casement, 3 points), Louth (after extra time, away from home) Meath in Casement, and mot sickenly of all the 2006 defeat to Clare. Our confidence was so brittle in those days that a whimper of a challenge from Clare in the second half was enough to snuff out a feeble Antrim effort. In 2007and 2008 we went straight from championship defeat to the Tommy Murphy Cup (losing one final against Wicklow before winning one) and of course we famously went to down to Kerry last year in Tullamore a week after losing the Ulster final.
Maybe we are finally due a qualifier run, and for sure Liam Bradley's Antrim would not have surrendered to Clare the way we did in '06. The best we can hope for, in my view, is a home tie and preferrably against non Ulster opposition. Offaly anybody?
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