Heroics in Newbridge

BBC NI's match report from the Kildare V Antrim qualifier, http://tinyurl.com/2c5ag6p
suggests that Antrim might have 'stolen' the match at the end of both normal time and extra time. The BBC have got it wrong, again. Had Antrim's footballers won the game it would have been just reward for a performance full of determination, skill, some wonderful scores and a willingness to stand and fight for championship survival.

The match was in danger of being over shadowed by the emotion surrounding the death and funeral of Dermot Early snr, a Roscommon and Kildare GAA legend whose son lined out for the Lillywhites at midfield. Dermot's memory was well respected, but thereafter the game came into it own. Paddy Cunningham set the Antrim trend with two early points before Kildare fired themselves into the lead with some well taken points. Thomas McCann finished off a superb saffron move with an audacious goal effort which, had it gone under the crossbar rather then ricocheting over, would have been celebrated as a potential goal of the season. Kildare got sloppy towards the end of the first half and we scored the last two points to leave one in it at the berak.

In the second half Kildare could never get further than two points ahead and it was Antrim who finished the stronger. Kevin McGourty played a gigantic game and his score drew the sides level on full time. Tony Scullion may have won the game late on but a draw was a fair outcome.

Into extra time then and we looked in trouble when Kildare scored two points early on. Paddy socred his 9th to bring the margin to the minimum just before the break. In that period Kildare missed a goalden goal chance which left some of us wondering it going to be our night? In the second period Antrim poured forward but when one Paddy Cunningham free fell short, it looked ominous. Hard won possession led to another free which appeared to be further out, but Cunningham stepped up, kept his cool and levelled the game. As in normal time we might have won in the end. It was Antrim who were now bossing the game and turning over possession, yet despite a two minute fracas interrupting play the referee blew up right on the 10 minute mark.

We left Newbridge with a sense of achievement. We faced a team who last year went to the All Ireland Quarter final, up against a bg home crowd and all the emotion that went with the sad death and burial of Dermot Early snr. And we left with our name in the hat for the second round draw, and a terrific double header in prospect next weekend.

Last night's performance will mean so much more if we put Kildare away next weekend. Can we? I would say Antrim have further to improve - some of our players have more to contribute next weekend and if that happens, well, the Saffron summer could be well and truly underway. There were lots of strong performances last night, none more so than that from Kevin McGourty. He caught some great balls, rode some hard tackles and withstood with maturity a cynical stroke as extra time began. He pitched in with 3 great points as well. Sean McGreevy, Kevin O'Boyle, Tony Scullion and Paddy Cunningham also excelled.

It was a night when two championships debutants appeared (Finch and Doherty) and when Thomas McCann went off and re-appeared in extra time. It was a night when Kildare fans around us were utterly convinced that Antrim offered no prospect of a challenge. They thought differently at the end. It was a night to remember.

Rounding off a solid Antrim weekend, our hurlers strolled to an all too comfortable win over Down in the Ulster Hurling Final. Liam Watson, Karl McKeegan and PJ O'Connell led the scoring. Given Carlow's somewhat surprise win over Laois, they will be the oppsoition next aturday in the All Ireland qualifiers. See match report from RTE, http://tinyurl.com/2ch3bt2

The draw for the next round of qualifiers takes place tomorrow morning. Next weekend meanwhile is one not to miss.

Ulster Hurling Final V Down. Team news

Team to play Down this Sunday, C O'Donnell, Kieran McGourty, C Donnelly, S Delargy, P Shiels, J Campbell, C Herron, , S McNaughton, K Stewart, C McFall, T McCann, L Watson, PJ O'Connell, N McManus, K McKeegan.

A new bridge to the All Ireland

A week ago I wrote that as the draw for the All Ireland football qualifier series approached what Antrim really would prefer was a home draw against non Ulster competition. I still think it was important to escape the claustrophic nature of continous Ulster derby games, and that factor was even more important than home advantage. And lets be honest, we all would have preferred Division 4 or 3 opposition, but at least we got a team from outside our home province, and so its off to Newbridge on Saturday week for a 7pm throw in V Kildare. It could well turn out to be a cracking game of attacking football.

Is it a daunting task? Well it certainly has a right to claim the 'tie of the round' title although RTE has decided to send the live cameras to Crossmaglen instead for the Orchard county V Donega. That one wont be pretty.

Had our clash with the lillywhites been at home I would suggest we had every reason to be entirely confident going into the game. Kildare lost heavily to Louth first time out, and we had Louth dead and buried inside 20 minutes in what was a league encounter crucial to both sides. And yes I know that it doesn't automatically follow that we will beat Kildare but there is plenty of supporting evidence. Kildare were by all accounts dire against Louth and Kieran McGeeney shipped plenty of flack for his sideline decisions. Subbing corner forward Paudie O'Neill in the first half after he scored 1.1 was a bizarre move and clearly 'Geezer' is under big pressure. Newbridge was no fortress during the National League when, in Division 2, Kildare lost 4 out of 7 matches.

Antrim manage Liam Bradley is as usual sending out very positive messages about our squad and the lessons learned during and after the Tyrone defeat. It may well be the case that injuries and substitutions during that game have led the management to discover just what is the best Antrim starting 15. A challenge match victory over Down was a confidence booster, Paddy Cunningham's quirky foot injury should be cleared up in time and the entire squad is training very well.

Some of Antrim's best performances in the last two seasons have come away from Casement Park, in Ballybofey, Clones, Tullamore and Cavan. By next weekend, Newbridge might just have been added to the list.

Our back door history so far - an unqualified failure

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?

Keeping the faith with Antrim hurlers

The build up to this weekends Leinster Hurling Championship clash with Offaly (Parnell Park, 3.30pm, Sunday)has been so low key it is almost off the radar. Maybe that is a more sensible approach than last year's bow against Dublin in Croke Park which was hyped up to the point where it almost certainly had an overwhelming impact on our hurlers who posted a performance on the day which was well below their league par.

The challenge facing the Saffron hurlers is huge, and the league form which precedes it was far from encouraging, featuring only two wins against Kildare and Carlow. Dinny Cahill never did pay too much attention to the League but defeats to Down, Laois, Westmeath among others were not good portents. The one point defeat to Clare showed more promise and in the final game of the season we were leading Wexford away from home before losing a man to indiscipline and collapsing in the second half.

Look further back in the record books and history shows that some of our brightest hurling days have come against the faithful county. The 1989 All Ireland semi final (Antrim 4.15 - Offaly 1.15) is etched firmly into the minds of Antrim followers, and in the years after that we always performed well against Offaly in the league, posting a few merited victories in the early 1990s. By the close of that decade however Offaly had re asserted their championship authority over the Saffrons and in 1998 they beat us by some 9 points. In the league last year - when the result really mattered, Offaly ran out easy winners in Tullamore. Our most recent win over Offaly came in the final of the Walsh Cup in 2008, at a rain soaked Casement. That result might indicate that Offaly is not a team which holds any psychological edge over Antrim, and that is something to hold onto as we head to Parnell Park.

The Antrim team this weekend is very young, Dinny calls it "a new team" and although only one man, Thomas McCann (not that one) from Creggan is a championship debutant. There is quality and experience in the spine of the team in the shape of Kieran McGourty, Paul Shiels, Neil McManus, Karl Stewart and Karl McKeegan. We can assume (I imagine) that Liam Watson will feature at some stage, so there is scoring ability there. If the defence applies itself tactically as a unit as they did against Clare in the league, there might well be something in this game for Antrim. If the performance is one which is closer to the Laois and Wexford surrenders, then we'd be in some trouble.

Time to show a little faith, one of these years we will see better days for the Antrim hurling team. Maybe it starts this Sunday.

A sorry tale of two halfs

First things first - yesterday was a shattering disappointment for Antrim. All the ingredients were in place for a big saffron occassion, big crowd, sublime weather, great expectations. All but undone by half time.

Was this a re-run of last summer's Ulster Final? The bare facts suggest that yes it was, that Tyrone grabbed an early lead and then sat on it. Yet, I think the second half yesterday suggested that maybe there was something in this game for Antrim, and that Tyrone 'sitting back' wasn't a big factor. When the gap was narrowed to three points, Aodhan Gallagher had a chance to reduce the arrears to two, but his shot went badly wide. Had that gone over, what then? We'll never know.

Too much went wrong too early in the game. Surely it is plain to see that Justin Crozier is not a half forward? Terry O'Neill had too little impact on the game and Brendan Herron's influence, so prominent in the league, was absent. In goals John Finnucane lacked the authority that say Pascal McConnell has. James Loughey, very effective when running at defenders, simply didn't do enough running at defenders.

There were of course positives too. To get within 3 points took a lot of effort and it showed what the team is capable of. Gallagher and Niblock in particular emerged with huge credit. On the line the substitions, whether forced through injury, or made through choice, were the kind that do have an impact on games. Kevin McGourty's impact was instant and his bodycheck on Sean Cavanagh immediately raised the Antrim temperature. It was the kind of hit that shook up the game and we benefitted. CJ too had a fine game, his best in county colours since returning to the fold. But all in all we fell too short. Of course Tyrone are good - they are one of the very best units to have played the game - and we always had an uphill task. But even taking that context into account, Antrim defeats do hurt badly.

So it's the hard road for the saffron faithful. We have not had good fortune in qualifiers so far with only a win over Leitrim way back in 2001 to look back on with any satisfaction. To the GAA Gods, please spare us another Ulster derby match. So far the other qualifier entrants include Derry, Offaly, Tipperary, Carlow and Clare. With a kind draw and an effort from the team that extends over two halfs of a game, we may yet find ourselves with a few more days out this summer.

Harte Vs Heart

There are two ways to look ahead to this coming Sunday's mouth watering Ulster Championship clash versus champions Tyrone. Red, or Saffron.


Reasons to be fearful:

Our footballers have run out of steam at the wrong time of year

The return of the St Galls players has upset the rhytmn and structure of the team

It's Tyrone for Gods sake! They don't do 'fairytales'.

Our last experience of the red hands in the Championship was a 6 point defeat which in reality didn't reflect the gap in quality between the sides.
We are too reliant on Paddy for scores

Enough of that - reasons to be cheerful:

Our guys got the job (promotion) done easing up - after a powerful and impressive series of 4 league wins in succession

The first match to feature the St Galls boys was V Louth, the highest quality first half display from a saffron side in decades

Baker has had almost two months to re mould the squad and oversee smooth re-integration

Kevin McGourty is back on board, and no-one can doubt his talent and potential to make a significant contribution to the team

Its not the old Tyrone, it's the one which got relegated, which had a do or die game V the Dubs, and died. It's Div 2 versus Div 2.

If you put our first half V Louth alongside our second half V Cavan - nobody could live with that.

It's in Casement - where the support can actually make a difference on the day.

We have the most talented pool of players available to the management - who can say for certain what our best team is?

James Loughrey

I choose to look on the saffron side of life, Sunday could come to represent a painful defeat, but there is a good chance it could be one of those days that in years to come we all look back on and say "I was there when we beat Tyrone".

Don't risk missing it.

Club Aontroma will be selling ballots on the day, proceeds in aid of the Dunsilly building fund. The Club Aontroma twitter stream will provide intermittent updates and give a flavour of the day. But really, unless you are following the twitter from abroad, your place is in Casement Park. See you there.