TG4 Ulster Final Preview – Antrim v Fermanagh
By Kevin Herron
Antrim ladies manager Sean O’Kane is hopeful that his side can close the gap on a Fermanagh side that has three victories from three head to head games this season.
Round four on Sunday sees the sides battle it out for the second piece of silverware this season in the TG4 Ulster Junior final at Clones (1.45 throw-in).
The Erne woman had ten points to spare when the sides met at the Athletic Grounds earlier this month – having previously clinched victory by two-points in the league and just a single score in the league final at Clones back in May.
O’Kane insists the management team and players are more than aware that there is a gap to close but won’t know the outcome until the final whistle on Sunday.
“We know ourselves – as a squad and as a management that we’ve a gap to close” revealed O’Kane.
“We’ve worked at it and I guess the proof will be in the pudding come Sunday at 3 o’clock at the end of the game and we’ll know whether we’ve done enough to close that gap”.
O’Kane bemoaned his sides less than ideal preparations before the sides clash earlier this month – the Saffrons were without a game in four weeks since the league final due to unavailability of challenge games.
But having defeated Derry two weeks ago they weren’t left with the same problem and the Tyrone native hopes it will show on Sunday.
“The fact we had no game for four weeks before the Fermanagh clash was difficult” O’Kane admits.
“It didn’t help us – Fermanagh are probably coming into Sunday’s clash without a game in three weeks. Maybe they played somebody before the game last month but we weren’t able to get challenge games and were let down. It hampered us and hopefully on Sunday we’ll be able to put it up to them”.
Reflecting on Fermanagh’s 2-13-0-09 win last day out; O’Kane admits the Erne woman were by far the better and revealed that his squad have worked on a few things to try and combat the problems they faced.
“I don’t think there was any luck the last day – they were just the better team the last day” reflected O’Kane.
“We’ve tried to work on a few things ahead of Sunday and hopefully we can step up and close the gap – I’d be hopeful. Realistically, we’re a very young side going into an Ulster final at Clones. The girls know what’s expected of them – Fermanagh are a good side. We know all about them and hopefully we can curtail some of the things we haven’t been curtailing the last few times we’ve met them”.
Antrim go into Sunday’s final without the services of Ciara Brown and Mairosa McGourty [holidays] but O’Kane feels that there are other players within his panel that are capable of stepping up,
“We’ve a few players unavailable” acknowledged O’Kane.
“We don’t have Ciara Brown [holiday] and Mairosa McGourty
[holiday]
– outside of that we have a full panel to pick from and there is a lot of competition for places in the squad and there are players within that panel that are capable of stepping up”.