By Kevin Herron
Antrim assistant manager Stephen O’Neill is expecting a tough encounter with Leitrim on Sunday.
O’Neill acknowledges that Terry Hyland’s charges have a good set-up and believes that Sundays clash is an opportunity for Antrim’s strong panel to showcase themselves ahead of the league semi-final in two weeks’ time.
“We’ve Leitrim and it will be a very tough game” predicts O’Neill.
“They’ve a very good set-up so we will have to prepare as best we can for that and we’re looking forward to welcoming them to Corrigan Park. There is not much time for recovery for anyone that has picked up knocks or niggles, but it gives the panel a chance to shine as well. That’s what we’re lucky to have here- a very strong panel and every man is pushing each other”.
The Saffrons opening two encounters have been nip and tuck victories over Louth and Sligo respectively, but O’Neill insists there is a lot more to come in the weeks ahead.
“It was a very lively game and I suppose last week’s game was the same- it was nip and tuck” O’Neill reflected.
“You’ve two very competitive teams that were going toe to toe and that’s what their aim was at the start of the year. Louth had it the week previous, Sligo this week and ourselves. We were just delighted to get the win, but it could have went either way. We are under no illusions that we have a lot of work to do to get to that level. Over the next few weeks, we will hopefully be putting that in”.
Although O’Neill didn’t think his sides performance was good in the victory over Sligo he praised the work-rate and determination on show.
“Our performance against Sligo wasn’t good” admits O’Neill.
“For long periods we didn’t play as we wanted to do- out handling was poor, our decision making at times was very poor. But when things aren’t going well the only thing that you can really control is what you bring to the game, and we cannot fault the lads work-rate, determination, and perseverance just to keep going until the very end. We’re delighted with that aspect”.
O’Neill praised the impact of Paddy Cunningham who has popped up with the winning scores in the previous two encounters and believes his qualities have shone through.
“He did the same against Louth when we needed a score – he had to score” he recalled.
“He has one of the sweetest left foots about and he’s a calm head and that experience has shone because it was a very difficult kick from a tight angle. No better man than Paddy to knock it over”.