By Brendan McTaggart
“The reality of it is, all the pundits will have Tyrone as clear favourites. Mickey Harte has them playing on a consistent basis, always in the quarter-final, semi-final and last year the final but we’re relishing the opportunity of coming up against one of the best teams in the country.” Antrim football manager Lenny Harbinson’s thoughts on Saturday evenings Ulster championship quarter-final against the Red Hand county.
The former All-Ireland winning boss and St Gall’s clubman is faced with preparing his side for a massive test. He was at Fr Healy Park for Tyrone’s preliminary round win over Derry where although they didn’t get things all their own way, last years beaten All-Ireland finalists showed their strength in the championship rounds. Derry took the lead with eight minutes remaining and it could be looked upon as the worse thing they did. They poked the bear and Yogi…..Tyrone got angry.
Harbinson’s challenge is to poke the bear and keep him under control for 70 minutes. Easy when you describe it like that but you get the sense the Antrim manager is truly relishing pitting his wits against Tyrone on Saturday afternoon. He told us of his squad: “There’s new players and young players included here this year. Every county has their challenges with players not choosing to play for them but our challenge is significantly larger. The panel and the team that went out against Donegal two years ago, you’re talking about 15 or 16 players missing.”
Antrim will line out on Saturday with 10 players missing from their last championship outing, 12 months ago in the qualifiers in Tullamore. That’s an incredible stat and one which makes Antrim’s performances in the league a little more credible. One point defeats are tough to take but when you consider the turnaround in players over the winter, you get to see the size of the task Harbinson is faced with: “It’s a massive turnover, we don’t do ourselves any favours but it’s been a number of reasons. Natural retirement, work commitments or some players not ready to put in the commitment required. The reality of it is, we’re probably more afflicted than lots of other county’s. If I was to take 12 or 15 players away from other county’s could they compete? Absolutely not. When I look at it, especially this year where we’ve had a massive turnover of players, the players who have committed to the county can hold their heads high. Their families can be proud of them, their clubs can be proud of them. They play for Antrim and show massive commitment. If you were looking objectively at the league you would have to say we were disappointed to not get promotion but it was a very competitive league. Three games where a bounce of the ball could have made the difference.
“Sports all about winning so ultimately its disappointing but going into the last few matches we were saying to the team it was important to go out and perform and hopefully that would bring the wins we deserve.
“The last game against Limerick was very heartening. A tough game, away from home against a Limerick side who had a couple of wins under their belt and had some momentum. Six down at half time which wasn’t a fair reflection of the half but we showed a lot of character and no small level of football skill to come out in the second half and turn that six point deficit into a four point win. A ten point turnaround like that away from home takes character.
“That helps with momentum going forward.
“We needed to finish the league with a positive run of results. The lads have had lots of club football since then and that’s good that they’re getting football but it’s not easy balancing it all. Not having 30 at training when you want to work on tactical stuff and what have you because they’re away with their clubs doesn’t help but it’s balancing act. It’s important to allow them to play for their clubs but it’s certainly impacted our preparation.”
The GAA calendar has been hauled over the coals for what feels like an eternity now and Harbinson, although reluctant to highlight the issue, was clearly frustrated but having played and competed strongly against a Down side who narrowly lost to Armagh last weekend, the Antrim manager is looking forward with optimism with his squad: “We played Down in a challenge game. They had a couple of players missing but so had we. It was a very competitive game that we lost by four points but I was very impressed with the work rate and commitment shown that night.”
Everyone dreams of a championship run and the players are no different. Harbinson, although openly admitting his targets for the 2019 season don’t align with most in the county: “Championship yes to a certain degree you love it when it comes around but for me and I’ve made no bones for the last couple of years that the league has been our priority. If you really want to compete at championship level then you have to move up the leagues to play at a higher level. That brings you and develops a team to compete at a higher level.”
Derry did a lot of things right against Tyrone in the preliminary round. Pushing up on Niall Morgan’s kickouts and forcing errors in midfield was key to how the Oakleaf county went about the game but such is the class of Tyrone it proved to be Derry’s downfall also. One misread kickout with two Derry players caught on the wrong side and 10 seconds later the ball was in the back of the Derry net. Tyrone showed they are clinical, it’s up to Harbinson and his players to lift their game to take the fight to Mickey Harte’s men.
To say it’s a big ask would be the understatement to end all understatements. Tyrone are 1/80 with Paddy Power with just Dublin showing shorter odds this weekend in their match against Louth. You don’t need to go to the bookies to know Antrim are underdogs but they have a chance to create a piece of Ulster championship history on Saturday night. No one gives Antrim a prayer, wouldn’t it be something special to prove everyone wrong?